Aquil Virani

Aquil Virani is a Canadian artist, who was born in British Columbia and is currently based in Toronto. His mother was born in France, and his father is a Ismaili Muslim of Indian heritage who was born and raised in East Africa, immigrating to Canada from Tanzania. before completing his undergraduate degree at McGill University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Marketing The project was partially crowdfunded and received over 800 responses. It was later exhibited at the Galerie Mile End in Montreal and the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax.

For his 24th birthday, Virani created 24 original works of art in the 24 hours leading up to his birthday.

In 2017, Virani received a grant from the Silk Road Institute's Combating Hate, Advancing Inclusion (CHAI) digital video arts initiative for his project, "Postering Peace". The painting was sent as a gift to the Islamic cultural centre in Sainte-Foy. The project was unveiled in a series of art exhibits in Montreal, including one at McGill University.

In 2018, Virani won the "Artist for Peace" Award.

In 2020, Virani received a $5,000 Canada Council Digital Originals grant.

For his 30th birthday in 2021, Virani mailed 30 letters to people who had inspired him in some way for his “30 letters” project, This included his childhood martial arts instructor, a friend's mother, Roberto Luongo, Ron Maclean, Kent Monkman, among others.

In 2021, he was also named “Artist-in-Residence” at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. At the end of his residency at the museum in 2022, he unveiled a collaborative animated film, a series of six participatory visual artworks, and a book compiling 100 immigrant stories submitted from participants across the country.

In 2022, Virani also unveiled six commemorative portraits of the victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting, created in accordance with the wishes of the victims’ families.

In 2023, Virani presented the “50 Years of Migration” exhibition that debuted at the Aga Khan Museum. The travelling exhibition integrates family photographs, first-hand accounts, historical documents, and personal interviews with Canadian Ismaili Muslims from Uganda, Afghanistan, Syria, Tajikistan, India, Pakistan and beyond. According to an interview published on the museum’s website, Virani’s goal is to "showcase the courage and resilience of the countless Ismaili Muslims who fled their homelands in search of refuge.” He says he "spent hundreds of hours over several months researching, writing, gathering, corresponding, interviewing, editing, photo editing, designing panels, editing text, and producing the audio play [...] in service to the community.” The exhibition was presented in Vancouver, Toronto, Brampton, Kitchener, Pickering, Edmonton, Calgary, Brossard and Ottawa at the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, with various political figures like NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, and Senator Mobina Jaffer attending different local launch events, including one event co-hosted by the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Later in 2023, in a separate project, he collaborated with the Royal Ontario Museum and curator Justin Jennings on a collaborative art project titled “Things will get better” where he "integrated hundreds of these sticky notes into a multimedia artwork, commemorating our collective early pandemic experiences and amplifying the diverse voices of participating community members."

In 2024, Virani was invited to give an artist talk at Queen's University for the National Day of Remembrance to Honour the Victims of the Quebec City Mosque Attack. In April, he also created a collaborative artwork using picket signs from the OPSEU Local 535 strike by workers of the Art Gallery of Ontario. His intention is to gift the artwork to the workers. For this project, Virani won the "Labour Creative Maverick Award" from the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts.

In 2025, the Senate of Canada exhibited Virani's artwork, "Canada's Self Portrait," created in collaboration with Rebecca Jones, marking the 60th anniversary of the National Flag of Canada as part of the "Visual Voices" exhibition program.

Personal life Virani is an Ismaili Muslim. He also identifies as a feminist.