‘I started collecting 20 years ago. My background is in fashion and although I always liked contemporary art, I didn’t know a lot about it. My first pieces were photography-based, but rather quickly, I moved on to sculpture with the Relational Art artists such as Pierre Huyghe, Ann Veronica Janssens, Philippe Parreno, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Liam Gillick, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. 

‘When I came to Paris five years ago, I had a whole new space to adapt the collection to. I now think of my collection as divided into two distinct parts: more conceptual in Toronto, and an otherworldly imagination in Paris. Although I like to change the hang often, there are pillars that I won’t move: a Louise Bourgeois ‘Cell’; a Pierre Huyghe aquarium; a Nairy Baghramian glass sculpture from her ‘Dwindlers’ series, shown at the 2019 Venice Biennale. I just hung a new work by Solange Pessoa, a feathered bronze sculpture, that also feels like an anchor.

‘I change things when I get a new piece or when one goes to a show. For instance, a Luc Tuymans painting in the collection is now included in a survey in Shanghai [‘Luc Tuymans: The Past’, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, November 16, 2024 – February 16, 2025]. A work I acquired by Christina Quarles will soon travel to her next show in Copenhagen.

‘I acquired a sculpture by Sarah Lucas that ended up being featured on the cover of the catalogue raisonné of her ‘Bunny’ sculptures, and this connects to a group of works in my current hang that refigure the female form. The ‘Bunny’ stands near photographs by Hannah Wilke, and pieces by Carol Rama, Marisa Merz, and Alina Szapocznikow. I also live with one of Zoe Leonard’s ‘Wax Anatomical Model’ photographs and a small sculpture by Mária Bartuszová that was included in her recent retrospective at Tate Modern in London.

‘At the Venice Biennale in 2022, I fell in love with Leonor Fini. Just as I was coming back from Venice, I was walking in my neighborhood of the 7th arrondissement when I saw her name on the door of a gallery, which prompted me to enter. The owner, Arlette Souhami, started to tell me the story of their 20-year working relationship and ended up keeping a beautiful painting back for me. It represents a woman coming out of the ruins and into the light, and next year it will be a part of her major retrospective in Milan at the Palazzo Reale.

‘Travel has affected how I collect. I enjoyed my time in São Paulo, and this led me to look at the work of Solange Pessoa as well as Anna Maria Maiolino. In fact, the Latin American strand of my collection is growing, with recent acquisitions of works by Cecilia Vicuña and Rosana Paulino. Apart from my travels, my friendships with curators and gallerists inspire me.

‘Two years ago, I established the Vega Foundation, which is a counterpart to my collecting as it is more experimental and focuses on moving image practices. Despite my love for the moving image, I find it can be a challenging medium to collect and display in a private space. Vega is dedicated to working closely with artists at critical moments in their practice and supports the production of ambitious new work. We have a growing collection of artists’ film and video. It’s important that we bring all of our projects to Canada and that the artists we work with have visibility there. It’s a place with such a rich history of experimental cinema and moving image, so it’s a way to ensure support for this work continues.

‘Some of the films Vega has supported includes Ali Cherri’s first feature film The Dam (2022) and his recent film The Watchman (2023), and I felt very proud to have been able to support such an amazing artist. In the past year, we’ve worked with many incredible artists, such as Alia Farid, Aria Dean, Charles Stankievech, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen. In the year ahead we will work with Lap-See Lam, Jordan Strafer, Danielle Dean, Sharon Lockhart, Stephanie Comilang, and others. I found myself the best director possible, Julia Paoli, and we have built a strong vision for Vega. Our website is up and running where you can see all of our past and upcoming works. I’m excited that the foundation is becoming more visible.’