For Esie Mensah, the delicate balance between artistic expression and political commentary lies in one simple ingredient: intention. While the Hamilton, Ont., choreographer’s portfolio includes a feature in Drake and Rihanna’s “Work” video, and most recently, a live on-stage performance with hip-hop artist French Montana, she is not afraid to use dance as a vessel […] More »

Walking into a small room, I am greeted by an usher as songs about Louis Riel and Canadian identity foreshadow the upcoming play. I take my seat across from the centre of what I assume is the stage. Scarlet curtains frame a black window made to look almost as if you are peering into a […] More »

A chalkboard sits on the sidewalk outside of Another Story, the first sign that this isn’t your typical bookstore. Written on it is a quote from American political activist Angela Davis: You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time. Since […] More »

Part-Time Woman, the new album by multidisciplinary trans artist Vivek Shraya and the Queer Songbook Orchestra, boldly asks: What defines woman? After eight years of trying to find mainstream and indie success through music, the Toronto-based artist took to other mediums for refuge. Since then, she has published five books and released the moving short film […] More »

Wei Li’s painting speaks for itself. Her brush strokes tangle and twist in flashes of brilliant colour, in sumptuous variations of texture. It seems almost to evolve as you look at it, as if it might rearrange itself the moment you glance away. The startling immediacy of Li’s craft makes it no surprise to find […] More »

James Michael Yeboah isn’t shy about his feelings. “I’m really sensitive. I cry all the time,” he says. That was the inspiration behind his first solo show, When Black Boys Cry. The Toronto-based painter says a lot of the subject matter within his project is about what he saw within himself. “Those ideas of me being […] More »

Tucked away in an alley off the corner of Bloor and Ossington is what looks like a two-storey garage with only a small purple neon sign acting as a beacon to passersby. This is home for a collection of hackers and hobbyists known as Site 3—a communal space that rewards curiosity of the trades. Many are […] More »

There’s a running joke in the Northwest Territories that you need to travel outside the Arctic to hang out with your neighbours. That was the case for Yellowknife artists Greyson Gritt and Tiffany Ayalik, who first met a few years ago at the Northern Scene festival in Ottawa. Their spontaneous partnership soon became Quantum Tangle—a […] More »

Terrance Houle, whose Blackfoot name is Iinniiwahkiimah (Buffalo Herder), is searching for bricks from his junior high and parents’ residential schools. He will bring all three bricks back to the IXL brick factory in Medicine Hat, where he will film a performance of him smashing them until they become fine dust. His parents will sing a […] More »

How were you chosen to curate UnSettled? I was approached in August when they had already created the UnSettled theme, linked to reconciliation. In taking it on, I decided to drop the reconciliation piece, since it’s a fundamental part of a lot of things Indigenous people are doing right now. I also wanted to give […] More »

1. look, you won’t like this truth every girl competes, edits herself daily double checks, avoids dessert. we’re born again in your eyes in every man’s eyes we become legendary or not, pitiable, just friends. a women’s face is her price tag. 2. I know niceties demands we lie but I’m trans, the least girl […] More »