These Canadian photographers are redefining the art medium and altering its historically monolithic identity.
By, Madeline Liao
Marginalized communities have often been historically overlooked in photography, but these Canadian photographers are changing the industry with their art. Their practices challenge the status quo by giving new meaning to the subjects behind and beyond the lens.
Here is a list of 10 BIPOC photographers who are illustrating the world’s diversity and amplifying voices through art.
From Garden River First Nation in Ontario, Stan Williams is a Mohawk and Anishinaabe photographer who strives to document the “beautiful struggles” of Indigenous communities and their endeavours towards respect and justice.
Williams has an extensive portfolio, both with individual projects as well as with various papers and organizations including CBC News, Two Row Times Newspaper and Yellowhead Institute.
He is also the creator of the photographic series This Is Indian Land from Photographers Without Borders, which captures the “front-line struggles for Indigenous self-determination throughout Turtle Island.”
A self-taught photographer, Williams hopes to inspire change through his documentary photography and capture the stories of diverse and unique Indigenous people.
As a queer Muslim, Sambra Habib has spent a large portion of her career photographing and bringing awareness to LGBTQIA2S Muslims worldwide.
They are the founder, editor and photographer of Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project. This project uses photography to navigate what it means to be Muslim and queer, highlighting various individuals who identify at the intersections of those communities.
Just Me and Allah documents stories of queer Muslims around North America and Europe, using a combination of photography and written biographies.
“These individuals are re-imagining what it means to be Muslim in the 21st century,” Habib writes in the project’s biography.
Mckenzie James is an African-Canadian photographer based in Toronto. James specializes in portraiture and has done various projects.
James was a part of the 2019 10×10 photography event, which highlights queer photographers and artists. The project’s purpose is to “showcase the diversity, personality, and passion of our community on an international stage,” as explained in the project’s biography.
Another one of James’ notable projects is with Tone Study, a Black art and cultural commentary magazine. The purpose of this magazine is to allow Black creatives and scholars to contribute to the colourful worlds of culture, art and fashion.
Mckenzie’s work with this magazine highlights individuals through portraiture accompanied by poetry by Ezi Odozor. As he describes, “this series of words and images capture some of the anger, sadness, and love that are the impetus for demanding justice from an unjust system.”
Many of James’ portraits capture the close-up beauty of diverse individuals, including those who are BIPOC.
Solana Cain is a photojournalist and alumni of the Ryerson School of Journalism. Currently a photo news editor at the Globe and Mail, Cain is “passionate about ensuring diversity and inclusion behind the lens in news coverage.”
Aside from working at notable news outlets, Cain has also conducted several personal photojournalism projects. Her work centres around the empowerment of Black girls and women by capturing authentic images of individuals.
Cain has two series focused on Black motherhood, entitled The First + The Last: Black Motherhood and Honouring Black Motherhood. She notes that capturing these images and pairing them with real individuals’ recounts of their experiences “tells of hospital mistreatment and obstetric violence.”
As a Black photojournalist, Cain gives a voice to those who have long been silenced by the media and the news.
Based in Ottawa, Katherine Takpannie is an Inuk photographer whose family originates from Apex Hill, Nunavut. Takpannie’s practice aims to “reveal the complexities and nuances of urban Inuit life.”
Takpannie’s work has been featured in various exhibitions, including Getting Under Our Skin, an exhibition inspired by Inuk filmmaker Alethea Anarquq-Baril’s documentary Angry Inuk.
As explained by the Art Gallery of Guelph, this exhibition “highlights the primacy of lived traditions and their transformation in visual culture as acts of resistance and resilience.”
Takpannie’s featured work in this exhibition includes photographs of youth who staged a Pro Seal Hunt Rally on Parliament Hill in 2018. She captured the hybrid fashion show, protest and dance performance that occurred during this rally.
Through her photography, Takpannie hopes to “raise awareness and bring forth important conversations” about Inuit communities.
With work that aims to connect with people through photographs, Brianna Roye is a Toronto-based photographer who specializes in portraiture.
Roye uses her identity as a queer and androgynous woman to express the importance of representation in art and society through her photography. Roye is passionate about connecting with her subjects and capturing their honest selves.
One of Roye’s most notable projects entitled Out of Many, One People highlights LGBTQ individuals of Caribbean descent through a series of intimate portraits. It’s with projects like these that Roye hopes to showcase underrepresented communities.
As she said in an interview with 500px, Roye hopes that her work will enable more “genuine diversity and inclusivity that isn’t just for the sake of meeting some quota or for an aesthetic.”
An award-winning portrait and events photographer, Nadya Kwandibens is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) artist from the Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in northwestern Ontario.
Kwandibens is the founder of Red Works Photography, a company that focuses on empowering and showcasing Indigenous lifestyles and cultures.
Along with her work in Red Works, Kwandibens has initiated many other photographic projects. One of her most prominent series is Concrete Indians, which focuses on contemporary urban Indigenous identity and decolonization.
In this series, Kwandibens combines tradition with urbanization as she expresses the message that there has always been and still is an Indigenous presence in the city.
“I always try to help people feel empowered by sharing their stories,” said Kwandibens in an interview with Canon Canada. Through Red Works and her other projects, she hopes to spread awareness about Indigenous culture and give a platform to hidden stories.
Jah Grey is a Toronto-based photographer who primarily focuses on portraiture. Grey’s works are inspired by the concepts of Black masculinity and his subjects are mainly Black men who “do not fit or have a desire to fit the label of hyper-masculinity imposed upon them.”
His most recent exhibition entitled “Man Up” (2018) explores the resistance to the idea of hyper-masculinity. Through a series of 15 portraits and a silent video, Grey encourages subjects and viewers to express themselves in ways they choose rather than conforming to traditional societal norms.
Grey’s projects, including “Man Up,” have been shown around the world, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Ford Foundation Gallery in New York City and even in Singapore.
As he says in his artist statement, Grey’s photographs are an ongoing study “that explores the disconnect between the concepts of vulnerability and masculinity.”
As a Malaysian-born Chinese immigrant, Vancouver-based documentary photographer Felicia Chang often uses her cultural identity to shape her art.
Chang first picked up a camera during a road trip through the Canadian Rockies and became immersed in the idea of documenting her own life and the lives of others. As she writes in her biography, she is drawn to how photography has “the power to shape peopleʼs narratives and identities.”
Chang aspires to amplify marginalized voices through her photography and “commit to learning (and unlearning) to help create more diverse and inclusive spaces.”
One of Chang’s notable projects, entitled The Intergenerational Bridge, follows immigrant seniors in Vancouver’s Chinatown and their relationships with younger generations.
The Intergenerational Bridge emphasizes how with the help of Asian youth, these Chinese immigrants can live their lives despite cultural and language barriers. Chinatown acts as a centre for these immigrants to stay connected with their culture, even years after leaving home.
Chang hopes to continue shaping her work around identity and advocating for a more equitable future.
Ending this list with a historical figure in photography, Yucho Chow was Vancouver’s first Chinese commercial photographer.
Chow had a studio in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown and photographed the area as it changed drastically through the 20th century. His studio was active during two world wars, the Spanish Flu and the Great Depression.
What’s unique about Chow was that he was one of the only photographers willing to take photos of non-white individuals.
Throughout his career, he photographed early Sikh and Japanese immigrants, Black residents, mixed-race families and many other diverse customers.
Chow’s studio captured the diversity of the city at that time. His photographs reveal a Vancouver that was, and is even more, today, rich with culture and identity.
