Dillon Lew'chuk
Dillon Lew’chuk (he/him) is a queer, (dis)abled, Ukrainian-Canadian artist based on Vancouver Island, living and working on the unceded lands of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, the Lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples (Victoria, B.C.). From 2014 to 2024, he worked under the pseudonym Ryan O’Lewis in response to experiences of discrimination.
Originally from Treaty 4 Territory in rural Saskatchewan, Dillon holds undergraduate degrees in Education (2015) and Visual Arts (2016) from the University of Regina, and a Master’s degree in Art Therapy (2020) from Concordia University.
Throughout his career, Dillon has served as Director of the Fifth Parallel Gallery, curated exhibitions, and received the Creative Spirit Award for his advocacy within Regina’s queer arts community. In 2025, he was awarded the Juror’s Choice Award by curator Mireille Eagan at the Salt Spring National Art Prize. His work has been exhibited in galleries, online publications, and print media across Canada.
art practice.
My multidisciplinary practice explores intersections of identity, resilience, and resistance. Working across sculpture, textiles, photography, and installation, I engage themes of queer visibility, (dis)ability justice, cultural reclamation, and ancestral memory. Rooted in lived experience as a queer, (dis)abled artist, my work responds to the political climate through storytelling that honours both personal and collective histories.
Drawing from Pre-Christian Slavic traditions and my Ukrainian-Canadian heritage, I weave folk motifs with contemporary social commentary. The legacy of my family’s travelling circus, Lew’chuk Midway & Shows (1918–1960s), informs my use of colour, play, and theatricality—where spectacle becomes a language of survival, reinvention, and joy as resistance.
My practice creates space for diasporic belonging and marginalized futures, challenging dominant narratives through intimate acts of remembrance and repair. I often work collaboratively through public art and participatory projects that centre accessibility, care, and collective engagement.
Contact.
Email: dillon.lewchuk@gmail.com
Instagram: @dillonlewchukart