Profile 
experimental website
Cyril Gaaman Chen (they/them) is an artist-researcher, animator and percussionist/drummer who grew up assmebling images and illustrations out of anything they could possibly find (to their mother’s dismay and approval depending on the medium), and drumming on cardboard boxes, couches, and stools. Cyril has been lucky enough to have these hobbies transform into parts of their emerging career where they can continue exploring critical play.

               Based between Hamilton, Ontario with roots from Regina, Saskatchewan, and a diasporic relationship to southern & canton China, Cyril is currently a PhD student in Communications, New Media and Cultural Studies at McMaster University exploring queer and diasporic speculative visual production and multimedia design. 

                 Cyril’s research/artistic methods seeks to work within critcal and reflexive decolonial and accessible praxis and relations. Their visual languages often merge experimental stop motion animation filmmaking with multimedia design as formats or tools for remixing and reifying contemporary cultures or symptoms affixed between numbing (”null”), curiosity and hyper-attention/emotion, with their lived experiences of crip precarity and as a queer chinese settler on turtle island. 

                  Cyri’s work has been supported by the Canada Council of the Arts, Saskarts, and have been screened and exhibition at Canadian and international establishments such as the Halifax Animation International Animation Festival, Vector Festival, the 72nd Berlinale, Neutral Ground Artist-Run Centre, in addition to conducting digital archiving and digital production workshops for cultural and community organizations such as the McKenzie Art Gallery, and the Saskatchewan filmpool. 
Education
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, student) Communications, New Media & Cultural Studies, 
McMaster University (2025 - present)

Master of Arts (MA) Communications and New Media, McMaster University 

Honours Bachelor of Animation (B. Anim.)Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning 

Expanded Media, liberal arts and sciencesNova Scotia College of Art & Design (visiting student)
Employment
Research Assistant
Sari-Sari Xchange, Centre[4]
Hamilton, ON and Toronto, ON 
2025 -  present


Teaching Assistant
Department of Communications and New Media
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
CMST 1A03, 2TM6; MEDIAART 1A03, 2B06, 2G03
2023 - present

Communications Coordinator & Consultant
Select organizations: the Saskatchewan Filmpool, STOPS to Violence Saskatchewan, Government of Saskatchewan (Ministry of Government Relations)
Regina, SK
2017 - 2023

Archives and Gallery Assistant
Neutral Ground Artist-Run Centre
Regina, SK
2020 - 2021

Animation Filmmaker & Multimedia Artist
Select clients and organizations: Hi-Vis Films, CBC Creators Network, Canada Council for the Arts
Self-employed
(since 2019)
  • Lead curation, programming, marketing, 
    & coordination for Pixel Room
  • Interactive and multimedia web development and design
Methods & Praxis
Illustration
Design
Animation
Performance
Writing
Sound
Sculpture
Installation
Exhibitions
(upcoming) Panel to Panel, group
Ultricies Ultricies,
Congue Nisl
2024

Pixel Room
Curator
Dictumst Ligula,
Porta Libero
2024

kunpeng sightings 
Molestie Aenean,
Facilisis Tellus,
Porta Libero
2024

Factory
Parturient Felis,
Pharetra Nibh,
Porta Libero
2023

emergent
Adipiscing Nunc,
Tincidunt Tristique Congue,
Vestibulum Porta Libero
2023

Member’s Show and Sale
Imperdiet with Quam Sodales,
Donec Tristique Porta Libero
2023

Thoughts of a Digital Archivist
Cursus Tempus,
Porta Libero
2023

Postmodern Bazaar
Gravida Congue
2023

Don’t Trust a Skinny Chef
Acrylic on canvas
5.4 ft by 2.3 ft
The Caligari Project, Festival of German Expressionism
Regina, SK
Sept - Dec 2016


Screenings
Tempus Egestas Nibh Vestibulum
Facilisis: Ultricies Ornare Ligula
2021

Rhoncus Auctor Ornare; Tincidunt Tristique, Porta Libero
2020

Conferences
‘Vestibulum Inceptos Gravida’, Ornare Review,
by Tincidunt Nisl
2024

‘Ullamcorper Faucibus (Congue) Euismod’, by Ligula Parturient, Bibendum Review Porta Libero
2023

Dictumst Tristique, Facilisis Magazine, Edition Two, Porta Libero
2021

Auctor Adipiscing Art Magazine, Porta Libero
2020

Sollicitudin Ornare Magazine,
Porta Libero
2020                  
Press
‘Vestibulum Inceptos Gravida’, Ornare Review,
by Tincidunt Nisl
2024

‘Ullamcorper Faucibus (Congue) Euismod’, by Ligula Parturient, Bibendum Review Porta Libero
2023

Dictumst Tristique, Facilisis Magazine, Edition Two, Porta Libero
2021

Auctor Adipiscing Art Magazine, Porta Libero
2020

Sollicitudin Ornare Magazine,
Porta Libero
2020                 
Awards
Tempus Egestas Nibh Vestibulum
Facilisis: Ultricies Ornare Ligula
2021

Rhoncus Auctor Ornare; Tincidunt Tristique, Porta Libero
2020
Awards
Tempus Egestas Nibh Vestibulum
Facilisis: Ultricies Ornare Ligula
2021

Rhoncus Auctor Ornare; Tincidunt Tristique, Porta Libero
2020
Site of Cyril Gaaman Chen
Welcome to some of my select works and online CVEmail, Instagram
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