I give praises

In all its splendid hue Black is a colour not a shade.

I have worked from that premise ever since the thread of

creative production found my veins.

Black does not function like shade. Black is a commanding presence,

not the marginal space of a reflected existence,

nor a fleeting opposite of light.

Black is a positive -a description of race, a reference to a multitude of cultures,

philosophies, medicines, art, wisdom, peoples.

Black is a kin to African -describes the bodies of Africans of Canadian descent.

Black is a colour.

Black is a frame, a script, a membrane, a period, a body.

Black is a road to Africa-culture.

Black.

Gomo George was born in London, England, grew up in Roseau, Dominica, and emigrated to Canada in the mid 1970s. He spent many years in Winnipeg before moving to Toronto, where he now resides. He obtained a BFA from the University of Manitoba, and an MFA from the University of Western Ontario and has shown his work in group and solo exhibitions in galleries across Canada for two decades. George has worked as an art instructor (Red River College, 1982-3, University of Western Ontario 1995-7), storyteller, artist in the schools, and in community settings as a counselor and program coordinator. He has received grants from the Manitoba Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, and his work is represented in various collections including the Canada Council Art Bank.

Of his practice, George states: All aspects of my of my lived experiences combine to form the sense of vision with which I approach and develop my visual stories. Acceptance of my cultural heritage allows equal value between oral tradition and academic learning. Presenting my version of human experience adds to the contribution of Africans to Western art discourse.

installation/sculpture

string, rag paper, watercolour, wood, steel wool, shoe polish, oil paint,

graphite

dimensions vary

sculptures (20 units)

treated wood, sticks, bed springs, shoe polish, copper, avocado seeds,

string,felt,oil paint, steel

dimensions vary