Confront your piles of denial to reclaim precious energy
Design research meets personal family narratives, deepening our attention to how we experience the lives we have built, and intention in building the lives we wish to experience.
Date: January 25 & 29, 2025
Time: 6 PM - 9 PM
Opening Talk: 6:25 PM - 6:40 PM
Location: 154 Shuter Street
RSVP: Reserve your free ticket
For two nights only, designer Sonia Lala presents The Address of our Dis/Beliefs, her solo exhibition created for the DesignTO Festival, Canada's largest celebration of design.
In this immersive, two-storey, multi-room series of installations spanning 3000 sq ft of the Secret Genius School (154 Shuter St), we are invited to consider how limiting beliefs and other key parts of our identity might be tied up in neglected spaces and artifacts, and the wellbeing that could be found in addressing these with compassionate reflection.
Our dis/beliefs are stories we have created or inherited, quietly moulding our lives and, often, keeping us from our most expansive and fulfilled selves. The physical spaces we occupy and things we choose to acquire can reveal so much about our values and behaviours, and the dis/beliefs these are based upon.
Examining these more closely and reflecting on what comes up for us as we do offers a powerful opportunity to acknowledge and overcome what does not serve us. What if, by doing this as a recognized and supported practice, individuals, families and broader communities could find healing, connection and resilience?
Both nights begin with an opening talk, as the designer describes the personal journey of clearing out her childhood home of 36 years while also creating both her and her family's new homes. The main floor of the exhibition is presented through the lens of a curious design researcher, a viewpoint that helped her to observe, process and transform the overwhelming physical and emotional labour involved.
Following the talk, guests are invited to visit the second floor where they can delve more deeply into challenging narratives that have dominated her family's conversations over the years. Themes explored include the cultural importance of marriage, complex sibling relationships and caregiving for a parent experiencing Alzheimer's. Light refreshments that reflect a current daily family ritual will also be available on the second floor.
“Our ability as humans to reframe things is truly incredible...which stories do you want to persist, and which are you ready to gently release, with love?”
About the Designer
Sonia Lala is an engineer, designer and storyteller. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she was raised in Toronto as part of a close-knit Bengali community, and spent significant periods of her childhood and adolescence in Kolkata and Delhi, India.
Sonia holds a B.Eng in Engineering Physics from McMaster University, an M.Eng in Clinical Engineering from University of British Columbia, and an M.Des in Design Research and Strategy from Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology.
She has served as engineer and physicist for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, biomedical engineering research fellow at Vancouver General Hospital, cross-sector design researcher and strategist at Doblin (Deloitte), and most recently, research lead at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's D-Lab in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on development projects in rural India.
After a decade abroad, Sonia is now once again based in Toronto. The diversity of her professional experiences are naturally converging, as she explores the impact of artifacts, spaces, rituals and relationships on wellbeing. She is committed to advancing the concept of “design in healthcare” towards “design as healthcare”.
Click here to learn more about Sonia Lala
About the Venue
Located in the vibrant heart of Toronto, 154 Shuter Street is a collection of industrial-style loft spaces that have seen a few different eras. From its original construction in 1910 as a carriage house, to a multi-unit residential building, it was most recently known as the Secret Genius School, an innovative learning space for children.
The Address of our Dis/Beliefs marks the reopening of its doors, the first of many events to come as owner Paul Zogala transforms it into Rosar Arts Collective—a mixed-use facility for artists, art lovers and supporters of the arts. Renovations will continue throughout 2025 to create gallery, studio, event, retreat and educational spaces for both local and international communities.
