OUT OF LINE

2025 CALL FOR PARTICIPATION:

Out of Line will be a trans artist group of 7-9 participants. Submissions are open to local trans and gender non-conforming artists and creative people working across all disciplines and stages of practice. This opportunity is initiated by Post Portal Project in collaboration with the Khyber Centre for the Arts. Artist and past participant Marley O’Brien will facilitate this year’s program.

Out of Line features monthly gatherings, skill-sharing, mentorship, a group exhibition, and public events at the Khyber from October 2025 to July 2026. More details are outlined below.

Applications are now open.

APPLY BY MIDNIGHT SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2025

2025 APPLICATION:

We encourage submissions from trans and gender non-conforming artists, as well as creative individuals who may not currently identify as “artists” but are seeking to grow their practice, build relationships, and expand their professional networks.

Out of Line is designed to activate collective learning and peer connection while supporting individual art practices and career development. We welcome applicants working in any medium, with any focus, and at any stage in their creative journey. Applicants must be 19 years or older.

Please email your application to submissions@khyber.ca before the deadline. We accept materials in text, image, video, and/or audio formats. Submit using the combination that works best for you.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST:

Artist Bio
Artist CV and/or list of relevant experiences
Artist Statement and/or description of your current practice
Why would you like to participate in Out of Line?
How will Out of Line support your art practice?
Commitment to Participation: Confirm your availability to attend monthly in-person meetings at the Khyber. Meetings will be held on the last Thursday of each month (except December) between October 2025 and June 2026, with two additional sessions outside of these dates.
Support Materials: Images, video links, artist website, social media, reviews, and/or articles

All applications will be reviewed by a peer jury of trans and/or gender non-conforming artists.

Questions? Contact: submissions@khyber.ca

www.postportalproject.com | www.khyber.ca/out-of-line

OVERVIEW:

Out of Line is a 10-month initiative running from October 2025 to July 2026. It was created intentionally by and for trans and gender non-conforming artists, with a focus on social engagement, collective learning, and community building. The program will bring together 7-9 artists through a public call and be hosted in person at the Khyber.

Participants will take part in monthly in-person meetings and a final group exhibition with a reception and artist panel discussion that reflects their shared experience.

Out of Line is committed to centering the voices, practices, and lived experiences of trans artists, challenging cis-normative narratives, and creating space for connection and belonging within trans artist communities.

Last year’s program details can be found here: www.khyber.ca/out-of-line-01

MONTHLY MEETINGS & FACILITATOR:

Sessions will be facilitated by Marley O’Brien and held once per month for 2.5 hours. Each gathering will combine structured sharing and feedback with informal conversation and peer connection. These meetings are intended as reflective, generative spaces to support participants’ practices and reduce artistic isolation.

Marley O’Brien is a painter, performer, and filmmaker working and living in Kjipuktuk, Halifax, Nova Scotia, with an acute interest in queer perspectives and pop culture. She is best known for her self-indulgent oil paintings and her performances in Atlantic short films. O’Brien’s practice is driven by her sensibilities and intuitions. She pursues beauty, passion, humor, and joy in all of her work as she does in her personal life. Whether she’s painting, acting, dancing or producing, O’Brien strives for her experiences as a queer and trans woman to colour her work and its reading. Not all of her work is overtly about her transition, but none of her work could exist without her transition. O’Brien endeavors to create evocative images that exploit and subvert more recognizable iconography from the canons of painting, filmmaking, and popular culture.

“The inaugural round of Out of Line was a spectacular experience that deepened my connections and supported my artistic development and career, so I couldn’t be happier about the prospect of participating in the next round as project facilitator. I love how this program lends a powerful form of support to the trans art community while also being fun and silly! I have a sneaking suspicion that the next generation of Out of Line is going to be a tremendous success and I cannot wait to see what beauty will emerge from this coming year of collaboration and connection!” – Marley O’Brien

GUEST SPEAKERS & MENTORSHIP:

This program will also invite 2 established guest artists, Arielle Twist and Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware, to present solo artist talks and mentorship to the cohort. Speaking about their artistic practices and professional experiences, these guest artists will share how they have navigated the production and presentation of their work within the art world.

Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. A Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator, Ware uses drawing and painting, installation, and performance to explore social justice frameworks and Black activist culture. His work has been shown widely across Canada in solo and group shows, and his performance works have been part of local and international festivals. He is part of the Black August Arts Residency Collective and a cofounder of Black Lives Matter-Canada. Syrus is curator of the That’s So Gay show and a past co-curator of Blackness Yes!/Blockorama. In addition to penning a variety of journals and articles, Syrus is the co-editor of the best-selling “Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020).”

Arielle Twist’s (b. 1994, George Gordon First Nation and Sipekne’katik First Nation, Cree) interdisciplinary practice blends poetics and visual modes of creation to explore the realities and legacy of Indigenous and Trans* life and grief. Exploring and experimenting through mediums such as textiles, painting, performance, literature and language. Recent exhibitions include Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self Determination since 1969, Hessle Museum of Art, New York; Indigenous Joys, Neutral Ground, Saskatchewan; Twist has received awards from Writers Trust of Canada, Indigenous Voices Awards, Arts Nova Scotia for her debut poetry collection Disintegrate/Dissociate (2019, Arsenal Pulp Press).

GROUP EXHIBITION & EVENTS:

The program will culminate in a group exhibition at the Khyber in June-July 2026, including a reception and public artist panel. Participants will present new or existing work developed or deepened through the program.