(NOTE: Photo credit for Buseje Bailey's portrait: Photo: Anita Martinez)

Buseje Bailey works across a variety of media, including painting, photography, video, mixed media and sculptural installation. She earned her BFA at York University and her MFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax (1992). She also has a Diploma in Communications: Publishing (Centennial College). In 1992 she participated in the artists' residency on "Race and the Body Politic" at the Banff Centre for the Arts, where she produced the videotape Blood. Bailey's work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. Most of her professional art career has focused on the hybridity of her art practice in relation to her African-Jamaican-Canadian experience and identity. In addition to her artwork, she delivers courses on African Art in the diaspora and works on community-based women's projects.

My prime objective is to show the beauty of the human form and spirit, to document various aspects of the human journey, and at the same time to allow the sculptural forms juxtaposed with the natural elements to show how between these two beautiful things there are tensions and storms. My art is a vehicle for social commentary, to stimulate reflection, and to examine the passions surrounding various human issues. The works use symbolism, parody and subtle metaphors to discredit the myths that spring from stereotyping. I have been moved to create these images because I have observed this phenomenon all my life. The stereotyped feel they need constantly to demonstrate who they are not, and are thus prevented from focussing on the essence of their own being, that is, who they truly are. The incredible diversity of human society means that these issues are pervasive and there will not be agreement on how these symbols and images should be interpreted.

Michael Chambers has been described as by art critic Donna Lypchuk as "the quintessential Canadian artist" for his challenging photographic work that has captivated a generation. Jamaican born, Toronto based Chambers studied at York University where he received a BFA. Exhibiting internationally to critical acclaim, he has shown in the US, Japan, South Africa, the UK, Canada and the Caribbean. In 1998, he presented a 10-year retrospective called And Spectators Are No More: A Retrospective at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham, Ontario.

While Chambers’ earlier black and white images used natural settings, recently, he has placed his models in the studio, and is exploring the gum bichromate printing process that allows for a larger scale, the introduction of colour, and more painterly qualities. Active in many areas of Toronto cultural life, Chambers has worked as creative director of the Asian magazine Dragun, and in 1990 produced the first black AIDS poster for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. His work is featured in Black Beauty, an international survey of photography published by Janssen. He was the recipient of the 2000 Mosaic Image Award and has been immortalized in Anton Wagner’s biographical documentary The Photographer: An Artist’s Journey (National Film Board of Canada) and as the subject of jazz recording "Michael the Photographer" by Neil Braithwaite and David Williams.

Upcoming shows include an extensive exhibition of gum-bichromate prints at the Peel Art Gallery, Ontario. Michael Chambers is represented by the O’Connor Gallery in Toronto.

This piece holds itself together for public presentation even though for myself it is very personal. Connecting new and recycled works, the installed drawings are a reflection of my observations, which evolve from the routines of daily life and actions. It suggests that the idea of completeness of the body is not necessary in this case or at this moment.

Having explored the role of "Black Mother" as a means to promote cultural understanding, my work has recently shifted focus towards a discussion of perceptions of race. Push 2001 demonstrates how racial perceptions and fear inadvertently affect blacks and the communities in which they live. Typically, black communities are pushed or re-located to the outskirts of the larger population. Halifax's North End and Gottingen Street area exemplify this tendency. It is common to hear this area referred to as "the hood," a term which carries with it implications of a drug infested, gang land, high crime area. Ironically, choosing to live in Halifax's North end is primarily decided by one's economic means. You do not expect to be viewed as a potentially dangerous criminal but, when "outsiders" come to the area, eye contact is minimal. Many choose to give you a wide berth as they pass you on the sidewalk. Most often, you are simply forced to step out of the visitor's way, as if you don't exist, as if this is not your home.

I have also, through my new work, come to the belief that true cultural understanding can only be accomplished through lived experience. Visual Reality #1 and #2 moves the viewer from one racial position to another. Wearing the white glasses allows the viewer to barely distinguish dark objects thus evoking the popular middle class belief that racism in Canada is not a significant problem. When your world encompasses many who are just like you and you have very little contact with the "other" it is almost understandable why many whites believe this to be true. Looking through the black glasses, your world becomes a very different place. Objects move in and out of shadow. You become wary as not all is revealed. This is the silent and destructive nature of racism. In other words, you will only understand me if you walk a mile in my shoes.

Chrystal Clements holds a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and is an Associate of the College in Graphic Design. She also studied at the Canberra Institute of the Arts in Australia. She has exhibited her work in several group exhibitions, notably Black Women in the Visual Arts at YYZ Artist's Outlet, Toronto (1997), In This Place at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax (1998, regionally touring), Generations and Feminisms, SAW Gallery, Ottawa (1999), Sister Visions III: Through Our Eyes, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (2000), Home: The Art of Preston, Dalhousie Art Gallery (2000). In 1999 she held a solo exhibition Home is where the heart is at the Dalhousie Art Gallery. Most recently, Clements has co-curated exhibitions at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, including Do Try This Home and Portraits: Unsettled Subjects (both 2001).

I began what I consider to be my true art practice during my MFA studies at the University of Saskatchewan. My MFA thesis, entitled "There is no one story of black girlhood" spoke about my experiences as a young black girl growing up in an all white community in the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Before this, I had struggled with photographic images of landscapes and what I thought were ideal images of women in today's society - subjects that meant little or nothing to me.

My MFA experience opened my eyes to what I now consider my true passion: creating work using mixed media and installation that speak of the injustices and hypocrisies that exist within a white dominant society. These injustices extend to the internalized racism that is a direct result of a society that for centuries has negated our experiences as black women. Most recently, I have begun work that investigates the notion of "colourism" - prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on color. Using pyramidal structures and grids I investigate the hierarchies that sometimes exist within the black community. Within my work there is an underlying notion that racism and prejudice based on the hue of one’s skin is both ridiculous and infantile. This is most noticeable in the pyramids, constructed using the idea of building blocks, in which I bring the idea of colourism to the level of playing with children’s toys. Although my work is based on issues of race and representation, I use myself as the subject, sometimes juxtaposing the self-portrait with texts from personal memories. Although some black women have similar experiences, I do not claim to speak for them.

Rebecca Fisk was born in Calgary, Alberta, and grew up in a small village on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Her experiences growing up there as one of very few black children has become the basis for her art work, which centers around the notions of memory, identity and representation in a white dominant world. Fisk holds a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (1997). She has participated in group exhibitions, including Style Council (MSVU Art Gallery, 1999), and has been both a regular participant in and independent curator for the yearly exhibition Sistervisions: Contemporary Black Voices (most recently, co-curator with Pamela Edmonds for Sister Visions III: Through Our Eyes at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2001). Fisk is a member of Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia, and an Associate Member of Eyelevel Gallery in Halifax.

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.

Pamela Edmonds is an artist, writer, and curator originally from Montreal, Quebec, who currently resides in Nova Scotia. She received her BFA in Art and Art History from Concordia University in 1997.The former co-editor of the Black cultural journal Kola (based in Montreal), she is interested in developing and curating projects that focus on the creative production of Black Canadian artists and in work that deals with issues surrounding the ideologies of race, gender, cultural identity and representation. She was the vice-president of the Black Artist's Network of Nova Scotia and, with Anthony Joyette, is one of the founding members of the Canadian League of Black Artists. She is also interested in film and video, and has directed experimental documentaries (X-isle 1999 and Deliberate Body 2000), and curated screening events such as Africadian Visions: Contemporary Film From Black Nova Scotia, at the Winnipeg Cinematheque (2001), No/Place Like Home: The Search for Place and Space in Cinemas of the Black Diaspora for the Centre for Art Tapes, Halifax (2000) and REEL Black Film Night at Oxford Theatre, Halifax (1999). Edmonds curatorial projects include Generations and Feminisms at SAW Gallery in Ottawa, (1999) SisterVisions III: Through Our Eyes at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax (2000) and Cultural Memory: The House that Mom Built (2000) at the University College of Cape Breton Art Gallery in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Anthony Joyette is a visual artist and writer who lives in Montreal, Quebec. He maintains a multidisciplinary practice in painting, drawing, writing and publishing. The common thread throughout his work is the idea of a shared black Canadian vision. Joyette is the founder of the Canadian League of Black Artists Inc. and current editor of Cacique, a black Canadian art and culture magazine. He is also a member of the Quebec Writers' Federation and one of the founders and former editor of Kola, a black literary and cultural journal. Joyette studied at Concordia University, Montreal, where he majored in Art History and Studio Art. He has exhibited his paintings in cities in North and South America, including Ottawa, Montreal, New York, Washington, D.C., and Lima (Peru), and his work is in private collections in North America and the Caribbean.

NOTE: Photo credit for Joyette's portrait: Photo: Patricia Bastone

slide installation

dimensions vary

videotape 5:54 mins

Boulder 1990

black and white photograph

31.5 x 41.0 (image size)

On the Pollen Path 1991

black and white photograph

31.5 x 41.0 (image size)

black and white photograph

40.6 x 31.7 (image size)

Moot Point 1995

black and white photograph

40.6 x 31.7 (image size)

black and white photograph

40.6 x 31.7 (image size)

Twirl 1996

black and white photograph

31.7 x 40.6 (image size)

Genesis 1996

black and white photograph

40.6 x 31.7 (image size)

black and white photograph

40.6 x 31.7 (image size)

Alton II 1998

gum bichromate print a/p

72.0 x 50.0

gum bichromate print a/p

76.2 x 50.8 (image size)

installation

paper, charcoal, graphite, ink, watercolour, monoprint

dimensions vary

wood paneling, stain, oil with carved text

39.4 x 121.9cm

On the Street 2001

acrylic, liquid rust on canvas

91.4 x 121.9cm

glasses, acrylic, pine (with engraved metal plaque)

17.8 x 17.8 x 5.1cm

glasses, acrylic, pine (with engraved metal plaque)

17.8 x 17.8 x 5.1cm

photo-transfer on canvas

twelve canvases

each 43.2 x 28.0

nobody knows my name 2001

installation

55 cardboard boxes, acrylic paint

152.4 x 152.4 x 152.4

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