Page Content PIXEL Digital Art Exhibition: Black Artists Live Here PIXEL: Black Artists Live Here comes to the 24' LED screen in Garden Square, February 7th to May 29, 2022. A digital art exhibit encompassing illustration, dance, animation, and painting, PIXEL highlights the work of eight local Black artists and creatives exploring the intersections of identity, technology, and community. Featured Artists Kwasi Obeng Adjei Featured from February 7 - 20, 2022 at Garden Square Kwasi Obeng-Adjei is a Canadian Artist born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area. After being accepted into the regional arts program at St Roch Secondary School, Kwasi was able to expand his knowledge training in various styles that include Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Modern and Traditional African dance. Kwasi’s professional credits include the Pan American Games, Lua Shayenne Dance Company's "Kira, The Path | La Voie", Esie Mensah Creations, The Raptors Halftime Show and more. Instagram: @Kwasi.obeng Limitless follows Percy Anane Dwumfour, a professional dancer, actor, and model. Through movement and conversation, Percy reveals how persevering through struggle erases limits. Deon Best Featured from February 21 - March 6, 2022 at Garden Square Deon Best is a multidisciplinary artist and designer. His portfolio covers a wide range of artistic mediums, including his current focus - Modern Batik Art. This unique traditional East African style of Fabric Art uses wax, dyes and inks. Deon Best is one of the premiere Modern Batik artists in Canada, and has taught nearly 400 students! Deon has an immense passion for animals and nature. He connects to their vibrancy and harmonious energy with the Earth. Website: dbestdesign.ca Instagram: @d.bestdesign Featured Artwork Cerebral Concerto is inspired by the graceful movement of butterflies. In this piece, butterflies represent hope and a renewing of one’s mind. Similar to the musical composition of instruments in orchestras, Cerebral Concerto brings to life, the fluttering thoughts within us all. Teneshia T. Samuel Featured from March 7 - 20, 2022 at Garden Square Teneshia T. Samuel (they/them) is a first-generation Caribbean Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, social activist, politician and scholar. Born with 10% vision and 50% hearing, the subject of Teneshia's work discusses intersectional identities, life in diaspora and paths to liberation for self and community. Exploring the subjects of Queer identity, Disability, Madness and Blackness, Teneshia creates work that crosses multiple media from Visual Art, Literature and Fashion Design. In 2021, Teneshia was the first Black, Disabled and Transgender candidate to run for Federal office. Website: www.teneshiasamuel.com Instagram: @teneshia.samuel Featured Artwork Mpuannum is a series of four digital images stitched together to create a virtual cloth representing Black identity and Visual Disability. Using high contrast images and the iconography of blindness and African symbolism of sacredness, this image elevates disability to noble community status. Black Hands Sign for Change is a series of four images depicting Black deaf culture and the leadership that it demonstrates in forging an accessible future. The West African adinkra symbol of "adinkrahene," a series of concentric circles represents leadership and excellence. Black Deaf Culture is leading us into a world without barriers in communication and innovation. Brown Wheeled Bodied Move Forward is a series of four images that promote the visibility and unbound mobility of Black individuals with mobility disabilities. Using traditional patterns found in West African Kente cloth, this digital image represents mobility beyond the streets, into social mobility. Malachi Watson-Narcisse Featured from March 21 - April 3, 2022 at Garden Square Malachi is a Brampton based illustrator and graphic designer. His art uses a visual vocabulary that includes contrast, colour and balance to highlight a diverse range of subjects with the hope of fostering a sense of community and connection. Website: mistermali.com Instagram: @mistermali Featured Artwork A timelapse video, "Just As Canadian" draws for the viewer portraits of many different Black Canadians, all of whom share key Canadian experiences with each other and with all of us. After all, as Malachi Watson-Narcisse notes, "although we all look different, we are equally 'Canadian'.". Abiola Idowu Featured from April 4 - 17 at Garden Square Abiola Idowu is a Nigerian-born multi-disciplinary artist based in Brampton. He is passionate about sharing time and space with people, using art to explore the beauty of the world. He aims to explore love, momentum, and metamorphosis. Website: www.abiolaidowu.com Instagram: @abiolaidowuart Featured Artwork VISION is a mixed-media creation that inspire personal power and inner freedom. "…A vision of unending greatness Your burning desires Should consume all chains Break off from the obscurity Break off from their limited shackles Get unlimited with your aspirations How you see yourself is you Stand up to your vision Show them you are infinite Not bound in your shackles" Chelsea Charles Featured from April 18 - May 1, 2022 at Garden Square Chelsea Charles is an illustrator who resides in Brampton, Ontario, and has received her BAA in Illustration at Sheridan College. She creates her illustrations through a combination of digital and traditional mediums. Her dream job is to illustrate children's books. She's built a career from illustrating everything from sports stars and actors, to dreams and political concepts. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, being a nuisance to her cat Charcoal and dog Stokley, while daydreaming about traveling to Japan. Website: chelseacharlesillustration.com Instagram: @chelseacharlesillustration Featured Artwork Summer conveys the feeling of being alone on vacation. Coleen Schmidt-Williams Featured from May 1 - 15, 2022 at Garden Square Coleen is an author and illustrator who discovered her passion for art from the age of 12. She is a graduate from Sheridan College with a Bachelor's degree in Human Resources Management and a certificate in Creativity and Creative Problem Solving. Her hobby is reading, writing and illustrating children's stories. Instagram: @col_collie Featured Artwork Girl in the sky is an illustration of little girl displaying the four main lakes and the many rivers that run through the city of Brampton. With lush trees and the city landscape in the background, she is reaching out to welcome you to her beautiful town. The lakes depicted from upper left to the bottom right are Professor's Lake, Loafer's Lake, Norton Place Park Lake, and Heart Lake. Carrie Campbell Featured from May 16 - 29 at Garden Square Carrie Campbell is a Contemporary Visual Artist based in Brampton, Ontario. An aspiring social activist, intersectional feminist and awareness raising artist, Carrie remains dedicated to characterizing her roots in her work, and to never forgetting her most powerful title, which is surely, “Survivor”. Website: www.theoutletbycarrie.com Instagram: @theoutletbycarrie Instagram: @pretty.winged.painter Featured Artwork FOUR was based on a photo taken on Kennedy Road in Brampton. In honour of the multitude of affections that parents have for their children, and of moments that perpetuate our wills to succeed, I chose to create a painting that represented the peace I felt in watching them together on that evening, and also the lifelong bond that the love of a sibling can withstand forever.
