A curated list of Black Canadian fine artists you should be supporting on Instagram.
By, Lauren Battagello
The contributions of Black art and Black artists to the Canadian fine art world are immeasurable. Although they are seldom acknowledged for their boundless efforts, Black creatives have long functioned as the backbone of all mediums of artistry and creative expression, their art inspiring, mobilizing and healing communities.
This article pays tribute to the incredible and powerful Black Canadian artists that are reshaping and revolutionizing art as we know it. Check out their Instagrams, give them a follow and watch as your feed becomes a space of beauty.
1. Kosisochukwu Nnebe, previously based in Ottawa, Ont.
Kosisochukwu Nenbe is a Nigerian-Canadian visual artist. Her art hopes to engage viewers on issues that are both personal and structural. As her website states, “audiences are made hyper-aware of their positionality within the physical space of a room, as in society, and how this shapes what is seen and unseen, what is understood and what remains undecipherable.” Nnebe’s art has been featured in galleries across Ontario and Montreal, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Place des Arts and the Art Gallery of Guelph.
2. Emmanuel Nwogbo II, based in Halifax, N.S.
Emmanuel Nwogobo, aka ‘Mister 365’, is a Nigerian-born artist who’s paying tribute to his hometown of Lagos through his visual works. Nwogbo’s works are influenced by 20thcentury art movements like Pop Art and Surrealism, and he aims to integrate metaphors and ironies throughout his creations.
3. Kaya Joan, based in T’karonto, Dish with One Spoon treaty territory, Ont.
Kaya Joan is an Afro-Indigenous (Vincentian, Kanienkéha:ka, Irish, Jamaican) artist. According to their website, Joan’s work focuses on “healing, transcending linear notions of time, blood memory and relationship to place.” As well, Black and Indigenous futurity are the main focus of their work.
4. Odera Igbokwe, based in Musqueam and Squamish, B.C.
Odera Igbokwe is an illustrator and painter who explores storytelling through Afro-diasporic mythologies, Black resilience and magical girl transformation sequences. Their work combines colour, movement and “queer magic” to bring together “ancient narratives with Afrofuturist visions.”
5. Benny Bing, based in Toronto, Ont.
As a self-taught contemporary artist, Nigerian-Canadian creative Benny Bing places emphasis on the positive representation of Black women through his work, as well as shaping the way his audience views identity and ethnicity. The CBC named him an “influential Black Canadian who is expanding and redefining black representation.”
6. Macha Abdallah, based in Edmonton, Alta.
Macha Abdallah is a young painter whose pieces come from people, places or colours she is inspired to turn into art. In an interview with CTV News Edmonton, she said she is always happy to represent her people, and that she hopes to be an inspiration for those who aspire to do the same.
7. Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, based in Winnipeg, Man.
Nigerian-born interdisciplinary artistChukwudubem Ukaigwe uses a variety of mediums to express a feeling, occurrence or idea, and create a narrative in his own unique language. He sees his artistic practices as a “conversation or a portal into one, and, in some instances, as an interpretation of this ongoing exchange.”
8. Laurena Finéus, based in Ottawa, Ont.
Laurena Finéus is a Caribbean-Canadian visual artist who specializes in painting dense landscapes with vibrant, layered colours. Her oil, acrylic and collage works feature family, irregular shapes and beautiful scenery that explores the representation of Haiti, as well as centring her lived experiences.
9. Tau Lewis, based in Toronto, Ont.
Tau Lewis is a self-taught artist who creates sculptural portraits and quilts using hand sewing, carving and assembling. The materials in her pieces are from her surrounding environments, coming from Toronto, New York and her family’s home in Negril, Jamaica. Her practice is founded on “healing personal, collective and historical traumas through labour.”
10. Kezna Dalz, based in Montreal, Que.
Kezna Dalz, also known as TeenAdult, is a painter, digital artist, and illustrator. Her style is pop neo-expressionism that seeks to send a message about modern love, exposing her audience’s sensibilities without any superficial layers.