July 3-31
In a consumerist culture, the boundary between trash and treasure is continuously in flux. Everything has equal potential to hold value and become waste.
Worth shifts with perspective; to some degree everyone can make value-based evaluations. Though, value can never be universally agreeable. Appraisals tend to reveal more about the conditions in which the evaluator lives, rather than the market-value of an item. Scarcity may influence a person to save what is useful, while abundance may allow for the retention of what feels meaningful. Regardless, people try to preserve what they deem worthwhile.
Family heirlooms often carry value beyond the lifetimes of the individuals who first assigned it. Some inheritances, like jewelry and antiques, can be owned. While knowledge such as recipes, stories, and traditions, are entrusted to sustain future generations. These less tangible legacies usually prove the most useful, yet remain the most difficult to quantify.
worthwhile reflects on the inheritances that resist straightforward appraisal, and considers what is lost when worth is only measured in capital.
Artist Bio
Isabella “Issy” De Tullio (she/they) is a queer multi-disciplinary artist based in Guelph, Ontario. Rooted in her Italian heritage and community values, Issy’s practice invites viewers to reconsider where we assign value and how we define worth. Through humble materials and layered storytelling, their work honours resilience, resourcefulness, and reverence for simple blessings. Exploring the tensions between cherished relationships and the stains of grief and expectation, she embraces what she has inherited and discards what has been imposed. Gesturing towards connection across generations, cultures, and silences, Issy offers radical love within frameworks built to be demanding and repressive.
Issy holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Guelph’s School of Fine Art and Music, graduating with distinction and earning multiple awards for her work.
Instagram: @isabella.issy.detullio
