Art Creates Change: Richard Fung

Richard Fung, Sea in the Blood.

OCAD University’s Faculty of Art presents:

Art Creates Change
The Kim Pruesse Speakers Series

Richard Fung

Artist Talk & Reception: Thursday, October 22, 2026, 7pm
OCAD University Auditorium (Room 190), Toronto
◦ Free to the public
◦ Wheelchair accessible

Richard Fung’s broad range of work, from his acclaimed videos to his critical writing, provide an analytical compass and a justice orientation, drawing on the many intersections of his own life: family histories and personal narratives, Asian masculinities, queer continuities, and Trinidadian/Caribbean history and culture. In examining these representations and formations he highlights policing, immigration, racism and homophobia within the larger context of colonialism’s impositions. As an activist Fung was cofounder of Gay Asians of Toronto (GAT) and in the arts, cofounder of the Images Festival. He is the recipient of a Rockefeller fellowship, the Bell Canada Award for video art, the Toronto Arts Award for media arts, and the Kessler Award from CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies at the City University of New York, among other recognitions. Richard is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Art.

Richard Fung, Photo by Arlene Moscovitch.

Art Creates Change is a long-running lecture series, now in its 20th year, sponsored by the Faculty of Art at OCAD University. The series focuses on artists whose work engages and challenges the conventions of creative practice and political imperatives, and their various locations of agency.

This year, in recognition of OCAD University’s 150th anniversary, we are focusing on three faculty members: Bonnie Devine, Richard Fung and Lillian Allen, three artists whose work has helped shape not only OCAD, but also the larger culture and political conversations of our time. Their creative, academic and political work organically engages urgent public conversations about representation, justice, equity and relational power, and embodies OCAD’s vision of “a vibrant community of bold, curious and compassionate artists, designers and scholars imagining a creative, joyful, equitable and sustainable world.”

Events are often co-sponsored with programs and organizations both within and beyond the university. Each event includes an artist presentation, Q&A, and a following reception. The events are free and open to the public and university communities.

Richard Fung, Island.

The Art Creates Change 2026 is supported by:
◦ OCAD U Faculty of Art
◦ OCAD U Art & Social Change
◦ INTM: LIFE STUDIES SPECIALIZATION in the Faculty of Art through a generous donation of the Joan and Clifford Hatch Foundation.
◦ Mark S Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at UT

OCAD University
Auditorium, Level 1, Room 190
100 McCaul Street
Toronto, ON M5T 1W1
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2026 Co-programmers: b.h. Yael & Min Sook Lee