“Things are too easily captured and discarded, which I think takes something away from the community building aspect I experienced growing up.  We attended Caribbean picnics, listened to Calypso, and took trips together...so there was a sense of family and community. When I look at these photographs, they remind me of that era.” -Aaron Francis

Gordon Shadrach is a portrait artist, Grade 2 teacher, and public speaker. His work has shown at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to name a few. As a self-taught painter, it’s even more impressive that he’s been selected by OCAD University as a lecturer at its How We Paint series. Prior to that engagement, ByBlacks spoke to the artist about the themes he explores through his art, the challenges of breaking through institutional barriers as an emerging artist at age 53, and what he most hopes to impart in…

Trayon Baksh, aka Tray Arts’ journey to success was fraught with pitfalls, but what seemed like divine intervention nudged him in the right direction while courage and determination pushed him the rest of the way.

Measha Brueggergosman is a Juno-award winning Canadian soprano who graces stages around the globe as an opera singer and concert artist. She is also an author, an actress and most importantly a mother of two boys. We caught up for a bite to eat at a hotel in downtown Toronto. Measha was in town to support an initiative with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. We first met years ago in Halifax when I was assigned to work on a profile of her for CTV National News. Full disclosure: she is one of my favourite people.

Drawn from the extraordinary holdings of The Walther Collection, The Way She Looks exhibition revisits the history of African photographic portraiture through the viewpoints of women, both as subjects and photographers.

We are living through a time when monuments of revered white men are being questioned and removed from public spaces. We are asking ourselves, who is worthy of a monument, who is worthy of taking up space?

“Rainbow capitalism.” This occurs once a year when corporate brands focus on LGBTQ representation in order to sell products to that community and its supporters.

For the last 20 years, photographer and new media artist Wayne Dunkley has been asking people in urban centres to confront negative perceptions and biases around Black identity. His latest project, #whatdoyoufeelwhen, is an interactive work of public art that prompts for honest reactions to thousands of images of his face postered in four major cities across Canada.

In celebration of the 215th anniversary of Haiti's Independence on January 1st, ByBlacks highlights two women’s journey to self-discovery.

It’s an otherwise quiet night in the heart of downtown Toronto. The sun has just begun to dip, and the normally bustling streets are virtually empty, save for a few pedestrians and the odd streetcar.