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QUICK FLIP:
EVENT / LAUNCH
January 23-March 1 2021— Quilt of Hope Installation at Massy Books, open 10AM-6PM daily. Masks are required inside Massy Books (229 E Georgia St). Note: This exhibition takes place upstairs in the Massy Gallery, which is only accessible by a flight of stairs. More info on the event page.
February 25-28, 2021— Digital Exhibition Tour for Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair
PRESS
CBC, Nya Lewis interviewed for The Early Edition With Stephen Quinn, Jan. 22, 2021
Listen: ‘The role art plays in anti-racism’
COLOPHON CONTINUED
Typeset in CirrusCumulus, MARTIN, and Redaction CirrusCumulus was designed by Clara Sambot and is available on Velvetyne Type Foundry (VTF). VTF was created in 2010 by the French Black type designer Frank Adebiaye as a platform to distribute libre and open-source fonts. Source: velvetyne.fr
MARTIN was designed by Tré Seals, a Black type designer based in the US, and is available on Vocal Type Co. The design of MARTIN is inspired by the protest signs at the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968. Source: vocaltype.co
Redaction was designed by Jeremy Mickel and Forest Young as the custom font for The Redaction Project by Titus Kaphar and Reginald Dwayne Betts — an exhibition which sought to highlight the abusive and exploitative nature of the criminal justice system, focusing particularly on “…the way poor and marginalized people are imprisoned for failure to pay court fines and fees.” Accompanying the concept of poetry created from redacted lawsuits, Redaction’s design was inspired by the default fonts of legal documents and their subsequen graphic deterioration — via the endless faxing and photocopying processes. Source: moma.org; redaction.us | Font available at redaction.us
BIOS
BlackArt Gastown is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating artistic and informative installations that engage residents in sharing the on-going “daylighting” of the presence of Black history in Vancouver while imagining the future of Black communities in the city.
Nic Wayara is a Black queer woman of Luo ancestry. Equal parts levity and tenaciousness, she recently founded Hook or Crook Consulting, a diversity and inclusion operation that weaves transformative practices of equity, community care, and social justice into the fabric of organizations while drawing from the teachings of intersectional feminism, anti-oppression and decolonization. Nic is also cocreator of Seen, a podcast rooted at the intersections of collective liberation work and personal healing, witnessed through the eyes of Black and Brown queer women. She holds a Bachelors in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice and a Master of Public Administration.
Wan-Ya (Megan) Chen is a Taiwanese communication designer & illustrator. Her practice focuses primarily on print & publication design, creative direction, and visual identity. Currently, she is attempting to pursue more socially sustainable design practices, through meaningful collaboration, connection, and reflection.
Triet Pham is a Vietnamese communication designer and illustrator currently residing and working on what is now known as Vancouver, BC. His practice focuses on visual identity, publication design, creative direction, and type design. He is interested in collaborative projects that use design as a medium to examine cultural identity and address social issues.
Nanyamka (Nya) Lewis’ practice is a culmination of centuries of African resistance, love, questions, actions, study, embrace and exposure in the face of failed neo-colonial attempts at erasure. Nanyamka’s expression is powered by the perpetual engine of truth-explored, uncompromised. It interrupts, it educates, it asks, it unites, it celebrates a Canada with all voices present, with all voices heard, with actions taken and commitment to justice declared. The artist sees her practice as a continuation of a long lineage of work undertaken by Black artists, curators, writers, activists and thinkers who blaze(d) a trail of critical discourse surrounding the Black Canadian Experience. Lewis’ creative practice reflects upon the diversity of Black diasporic experiences and its many forms of expression. As such, she works across the disciplines of art making, curating and writing. Her work is multivalent in form and expression but is always driven by the reimagining and reclaiming of community. Lewis is a MFA candidate at OCAD University, an Independent curator and the founder and director of BlackArt Gastown.
