by: Shalaka Jadhav
CAMBRIDGE, ON – Hosted at the University of Waterloo Cambridge Architecture Campus, “A Room of One’s Home” is an exhibition curated by Bianca Weeko Martin, and brings together the work of six Waterloo Architecture graduates and alumni whose research reflects on relationships between architecture, diaspora, memory, and cultural knowledge.

Employing drawings, publications, artifacts, and architectural research, the exhibition invites visitors into rooms where, through architectural inquiry,  “home” can be understood as an evolving relationship across generations.

The exhibition and its artists covers several regions:

Ricardo Espinoza, the Caribbean Sea;

Hyjnid (Nidi) Metaj, Albania;

Angeline Reyes, the Philippines;

Giulia Simonetta, Italy;

Zaven Titizian, Syria/Lebanon, and;

Hiba Hasan Zubairi, the Indus River Basin.

Today I’m speaking with Bianca Weeko Martin, curator of “A Room of One’s Home.”

Bianca Weeko Martin is a writer and researcher weaving together architectural practice with theory and personal narrative. She is the author of the “Architectural Guide: Manila” and writes about art, space, and the Filipino diaspora for cultural institutions and publications. She recently made the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for her work “Tita Tallulah”.

“A Room of One’s Home” is on until October 1, 2026. Join Bianca to celebrate the exhibition closing, on September 24, between 5-8pm at the Riverside Gallery. At the closing, exhibiting artist Ricardo Espinoza will be leading a fabric transfer workshop. 

Read about the exhibition at uwaterloo.ca/architecture/news/room-ones-home.

__________

Graduate thesis work of the exhibitors can be found here:

“Beyond the Frame: Culture, Identity, and the Caribbean Sea Diaspora in Canada” – Ricardo Espinoza

“Back to the Mountains: A Guesthouse for the Preservation of Vernacular Memory on Mount Tomorr in Albania” – Hyjnid (Nidi) Metaj

“Manila’s Other City: Toward a Counter-Relocation Approach” – Angeline Reyes

“Tracing Footsteps: Ritual, Place-Making, and Negotiating Identity in Italian-Canadian Processional Landscapes” – Giulia Simonetta

“The Fading Village: An Archive of Exile and Errantry” – Zaven Titizian

“A Woven Divide: Cotton, Property and Partition in the Indus River Basin” – Hiba Hasan Zubairi

Photo Credit: Photo by Harminder Phull

—

This program is a part of the Local Journalism Initiative and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, Heritage Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

You can access archived versions of this program at radiowaterloo.ca/news, and listen to all the Local Journalism Initiative content at frequencynews.ca

If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca

The theme music on today’s show was “Polyvinyl” by Anemoia, courtesy of the Free Music Archive, under the Creative Commons Attribution License. You can find it at the Free Music Archive—freemusicarchive.org