Aurora residents can explore how public art shapes identity and community during a free panel discussion on Sunday, September 20, 2026. The Aurora Cultural Centre is hosting “Identity & Place: Public Art Discussion Panel” at 2:00 PM in Homeroom Galleries at Aurora Town Square, 50 Victoria Street, Aurora.
The event features artists Khadija Aziz, Zishuo Li, and Roda Medhat, with Aurora Cultural Centre Gallery Manager Ashlyn Gregory moderating. It runs both in person and online, with a virtual broadcast available via Vimeo.
The panel is part of Common Threads: Aurora Public Art Festival, which runs September 16-27. The festival presents three large-scale outdoor textile installations by Aziz, Li (with Yifu Ding), and Medhat at the Mirkopoulos Plateia in Aurora Town Square. The works examine identity, visibility, and cultural heritage through fibre-based practice, bringing textile art outside and challenging the divide between public and private spaces.
Aziz is a Toronto textile artist and educator, currently artist-in-residence at Harbourfront Centre’s Textiles Studio. She combines slow-craft techniques with digital manipulation. Li is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist pursuing a PhD in Media and Design Innovation at Toronto Metropolitan University. Their work is influenced by Daoism and traditional Chinese philosophy. Medhat is a Kurdish-born Toronto artist working in sculpture, installation, public art, and moving image. He received the CIBC C2 Art Prize in 2024 and the 401 Richmond Career Launcher Prize in 2023.
The event is free and open to all ages 16 and up. No registration is required for the in-person discussion, and the virtual broadcast link is available on the event page.
