Faculty of Art
Drawing and Painting
Meet the Artist
Olivia
Bill
Multidisciplinary
“Appropriating commercial photographs from the 1950s-1970s, my work explores ideas surrounding gender, power, violence and desire. My work aims to question these highly constructed photographs, beginning to dismantle the harmful systems subliminally upheld by the hyper-consumable images. Using "dated" photos highlights the cyclical relationship between images and real life. The images we see effects the way we live and the way we live effects the way we see images. Through reaching back six decades, this cycle becomes noticeable, inviting the viewer to dissect how much has not changed.”
Olivia Bill (b. 2004) is a multidisciplinary artist, primarily working in painting and film. She is currently completing her BFA in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University. Her work explores ideas surrounding the body, gender, consumption and materiality. She often pulls from various archives such as magazines, advertisements, film, and photography. Through explorations of medium, scale, repetition and cropping, she invites the viewer to find new narratives and contexts within the appropriated images. She has shown her work in various galleries such as the She Said Gallery, St. Thomas Public Art Centre and Stackt Market.
OCAD U - Faculty of Arts & Science
English
Minor In progress, 2026
Oil Painting Film
2026, To Be Seen
Youthful Vengeance, Toronto, ON.
2025, In View of the Artists
St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre, St. Thomas, ON.
2025, Faces and Traces: A Cross Boarder Portrait Project
SCENE Metrospace, East Lansing, Michigan & Stackt Market – North Gallery, Toronto, ON
2025, Tame - Solo Exhibition
She Said Gallery
2024, Family Matters
Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto, ON.
2024, To Be Seen: Artistic Dialogues About Body Image
Sheena's Place in collaboration with The Combine, Toronto, ON.
2024, Fleshly Desires
Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto, ON.
2023, In View of the Artist
St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre, St. Thomas, ON.
2023, First Self Portrait: Cultural Appropriation
OCAD University, Toronto, ON.
2022, Clark McDougall Fine Arts Scholarship
St. Thomas-Elgin Art Center
Celebrate the work of OCAD U’s class of 2025/2026!