As a queer local comic artist, Kim Edgar was excited to be featured in the celebration of the fourth anniversary of Possible Worlds, an art hub on Somerset Street.
Possible Worlds—a combination record store, art gallery, and creative centre on Somerset Street—held the party this Friday.
Melanie Yugo, Possible Worlds co-founder, said the get-together was an opportunity to acknowledge Ottawa’s art community for rallying behind the space over the years.
Dozens packed into the tiny Chinatown storefront to socialize, enjoy refreshments, and also catch a glimpse of Edgar’s work.
Edgar said they were overjoyed to have their work exhibited at Possible Worlds, and added that they had an admiration for the space’s uniqueness.
“There’s a lot of art centres in Ottawa, but they tend to cater to a very specific stitch of artists,” said Edgar. “I think Possible Worlds is different.”
Edgar, who is queer and suffers from physical and mental health ailments, said places like Possible Worlds give artists with traditionally underrepresented experiences a chance to share their stories.
“A lot of institutions prioritize certain kinds of art. It’s often white artists, straight artists and able-bodied artists,” they said. “It’s really important that there’s a space that tries to cater to different communities.
“It’s really tough to sustain something that is community-driven,” said Yugo. “So, we wanted to thank everyone that has supported us.”
The space has made a name for itself in the Ottawa arts scene through its exhibition of unique artists and obscure artistic mediums. Prints—many of which are created by Yugo—cover the walls of the small shop, and quirky T-shirts can be found alongside rare electronic vinyl LPs.
The inviting space is tucked up the stairs of a Chinatown outdoor shopping complex. Yugo said the art house is shedding light on diverse voices in the Ottawa art community.
“We’re embedded in a diverse neighbourhood, in a storefront, so to those people that might be intimidated by being in an institution, we’re accessible.”
She said when she opened Possible Worlds with her husband, Jason Pelletier, she only expected it to be open for a year. Plans changed when the space was quickly embraced by locals after its 2015 opening.
Yugo said she and Pelletier created Possible Worlds as a response to a lack of community spaces catering to experimental and underground art forms.
“We found there was something missing in Ottawa that was showing diverse, emerging voices,” said Yugo.
Pelletier is an electronic music producer, and Yugo is a graphic artist—two art forms that Yugo and Pelletier said were previously underrepresented in local art spaces.
Pelletier said Possible Worlds is changing that.
“It gives another take on arts and culture in Ottawa,” said Pelletier. “We’re pumping up anything new or different or unique in the city.”
Yugo concurred, adding that the space was “challenging the notion of what art means and what it means to practice and engage with it.”
She was careful to refer to Possible Worlds as a creative space, and not solely as a place of business. She said the shop is “an in-between space between the artists and institutions.”
She added that she hopes her presence in the Ottawa arts scene will give young creatives a role model that looks like them.
“It’s important to see that there’s a woman and person of colour doing something and leading something in the arts scene in Ottawa.”
Possible Worlds’s motto is “you can’t be what you can’t see”—a quote from American children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman.
The space’s name is derived from the essence of this quote, said Yugo. Their diverse collection is meant to show local artists that any of their creative dreams are possible.
The proof is just up a staircase in Chinatown.
Image by KC Hoard
