05/03/2026
The Board of Directors, Staff, and Volunteers of Forest City Gallery offer the FCG community and beyond our most heartfelt condolences for the recent passing of Jessica Karuhanga. Jessica’s multidisciplinary contributions to the arts in our region are impossible to capture through text. She was a mentor, friend, role model, colleague, and teacher to many individuals within our membership, moving fluidly between these roles. As a mentor, Jessica recognized the potential of her place in the institution while stretching its boundaries beyond tradition. As an activist, Jessica never shied away from sharing her personal experiences of marginalization, creating works that centre her embodiment and call us to consider the environments we live in, work in, and call home.
The gift of Jessica’s fortitude is felt on a global scale. Her works and her spirit will continue to shape our communities and the ways we grow and move forward. We share some words from FCG studio tenant and local artist, Moira Hayes, who had the privilege of knowing her as a professor, mentor, and friend:
“Jessica was my mentor upon entering the MFA program at Western University in the fall of 2024. She challenged me and I’m better for it.
In our last studio visit, I talked animatedly about my work, lotto scratch tickets, cruel optimism, willfulness, and oddly cropped pictures of Michelangelo’s sculptures from the Vatican. I asked if she could recognize the statue of David, hastily screen-printed in four-layered colours, even though I had only printed a quarter of his face.
Jessica said, “Oh, yeah. I know that eye.”
Much of my time in the MFA program has been spent contemplating the Devil as my main subject matter. Nobody really understood where I was coming from because this was largely a device for inner reflection.
But Jessica was immediately on board. She stressed to me that she wholly believed in and endorsed the work I was doing. Through her own practice, I saw how elements of personal reflection could be an effective tool for confronting an audience. Her words of encouragement keep me going. I will always thank her for following my train of thought, too.”
Rest in Power, Jessica.
