The School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) at York University has recognized Professor Marissa Largo with the AMPD Research Award for 2025-2026.
An Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Visual Art & Art History, Professor Largo has made significant contributions to contemporary art, curatorial practice, and community-engaged research-creation. Her work bridges art education, cultural studies and contemporary art criticism, and explores questions of race, gender and Asian diasporic art in Canada.
Over the past five years, Professor Largo has curated five exhibitions and produced peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, an exhibition catalogue and several curatorial essays.
Professor Largo’s SSHRC-funded research-creation project, The Biyuti Project: Queer and Trans Filipinx Youth in Ontario Catholic Education, uses kuwentohan (a Filipino method of storytelling) and collaborative art production to explore the experiences of LGBTQIA+ youth in Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school system.
The Biyuti Project’s month‑long exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada showcased fashion arts, interactive media, and installation, alongside public programs that brought together artists, educators, and community members to examine queer and trans Filipinx experiences in Ontario’s Catholic schools. Drawing from these creative outputs and the participants’ narratives, the project advanced concrete policy recommendations aimed at improving equity, safety, and cultural responsiveness in Catholic education, positioning the exhibition as both an artistic intervention and a catalyst for systemic change.
Her past curatorial projects have been recognized for their important cultural and artistic interventions. Elusive Desires: Ness Lee + Florence Yee, presented at the Varley Art Gallery of Markham, created space for queer, feminist and Asian diasporic perspectives in Canadian contemporary art.
In 2022, the project received Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries (GOG) Awards for Best Curatorial Writing and Best Exhibition Design and Installation and was nominated for Exhibition of the Year. In 2024, Professor Largo’s curatorial project with Julius Poncelet Manapul—Sila/Siya/Ako at A Space Gallery—centered on Filipinx diasporic identity through a queer decolonial lens. It subsequently won Exhibition of the Year (under $20K) from the GOG Awards.
Professor Largo is an international leader in the scholarly field of Asian Diaspora. From 2018-2026, Professor Largo served as Canada Area Editor of the Journal of Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas and is currently a board member of the Association of Asian American Studies.
About Marissa Largo
Professor Marissa Largo is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in AMPD’s Department of Visual Art & Art History. A researcher, artist, curator and educator, her work focuses on community engagement, race, gender and Asian diasporic cultural production, with particular attention to Filipino/a/x Canadian contemporary art, decolonial aesthetics, curatorial practice and research-creation.
Professor Patrick Alcedo presents the 2025-26 AMPD Research Award