MDes students 2022-2023

Tarcisio Cataldi 

Tarcisio Cataldi is a Black Brazilian designer and artist born in São Paulo and now based on Tio'tia:ke/Montreal. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design from São Paulo State University (UNESP) and is a second-year MDes student at Concordia University. Being committed to Black-driven narratives with the lens of Afrofuturism, Tarcisio specializes in Black-centered storytelling, data visualization, visual symbols, and diverse cultural manifestations in both design and art. His research practice is concerned with the design and construction of flags, in particular, their symbolic meanings and values, and their materiality and relation to humans and culture. The artist has worked extensively with the graphic materialization of concepts of urban daily lives: slang, dialects, sayings, time, data, and ethnicity. He currently works as a designer for Obx Laboratory for Experimental New Media and Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace at the Indigenous Futures Research Centre. 

Raphaël Viens

Shortly after graduating from his bachelor’s in fashion design in 2021, Raphaël started teaching at LaSalle College in Montreal, among other institutions. Currently focusing on craft-based approaches as methods for teaching, he uses artifacts as a means of expression and tools for learning.

For their own practice, they flirt with the idea of immortalizing craft-based knowledge, while imposing a contemporary reflection on topics such as agriculture, body and gender identification, as well as rituals of intimacy and friendship. As a multidisciplinary maker, they focus on their knowledge of handmade textiles and soft materials such as leather to convey their intentions through artifacts.

With the goal of sensitizing consumers to the origins of foods and the methods involved in producing them, the body of work wishes to rethink our current dining habits and our relationships to these prescribed objects and mealtime rituals outside of heteronormative boundaries. 

www.raphaelviens.com