Step into a visual journey of legacy, heritage and hope. This curated gallery exhibition explores this year’s theme, “The Promise We Carry” through the lens of Black artists and storytellers, connecting ancestral memory to contemporary voices. The exhibition invites reflection on how collective strength and shared purpose continue to shape our communities today.
- This exhibit will be on display from February 3 to 28.
- Tuesdays to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m at Old Town Hall (460 Botsford Street)
To learn more about The Promise We Carry premise and other Black History Month activities, please visit NACCA's webpage.
Featured artists
Janice Reid is a Canadian-Jamaican artist based in Brampton, ON. Her work has been exhibited at Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, BAND Gallery, PAMA, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, the National Gallery of Jamaica, and the National Portrait Gallery. With participation in major art fairs and cultural initiatives, Janice Reid continues to establish her presence within the international contemporary photography scene.
Instagram @janice.reid
Syrus Marcus Ware
Syrus Marcus Ware is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts, McMaster University. His research creation practice spans drawing, installation, and performance and considers social justice frameworks and Black activist culture. His work has been shown widely, including solo shows at Tangled Art + Disability in 2022 (Random Access Memory), Grunt Gallery in 2018 (2068:Touch Change) and Wil Aballe Art Projects in 2021 (Irresistible Revolutions). His work has been featured as part of the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art in both 2019 and 2022, in conjunction with the Ryerson Image Centre (Antarctica; Ancestors, Do You Read Us?: Dispatches from the Future and MBL:Freedom), as well as for the Bentway's Safety in Public Spaces initiative in 2020 (Radical Love).
Syrus is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter–Canada and the Wildseed Centre for Art & Activism. He is the innovator of the Wildseed Black Arts Fellowship, the Put Your Roots Down Residency and the Black August Residency. Syrus is a past co-curator of Blackness Yes!/Blockorama, the largest and longest-running programming at the Pride Toronto Festival.
syrusmarcusware.com/
Instagram: @syrusmarcus
Theodore Walker Robinson
Theodore Walker Robinson is a Black, low-vision, hard-of-hearing, nonbinary broadcaster, singer, textile artist, and nonprofit executive. Theodore was born to parents of Maroon Jamaican and Afro-Chinese Trinidadian descent who settled in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the early 1970s. They are a creative consultant based in Toronto and an Executive Director of Lakeshore Arts in South Etobicoke. As a consultant, Theodore focuses on providing recommendations to arts and culture agencies on accessibility for people with disabilities based on lived experience and strategic Human Resources practices. They are a regular host on the Luminato Festival Toronto's Radio LUMI and an ambassador for Brampton Arts Organization. As a singer, Theodore explores transgender voices in music. Their textile art practice explores West African heritage fabrics and Blind/Low Vision methodologies and pedagogical practice.
Instagram: @theodore.walkerrobinson
Paulette Fleary is a resident Ontario Artist, proud Canadian of Caribbean heritage. The blend of cultures and being a black woman creates a unique Canadian perspective, which often inspires her work. Positive representations of women, with a focus on Black women makes a strong statement in her work. On rare occasions she shares her love of plants, and the passion of the natural skies in her art.
Chawntay Barrett (she/her) is an emerging artist, facilitator, and arts professional based in the Greater Toronto Area. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Guelph (2020) and a Graduate Certificate in Arts Management from Centennial College (2025). Community lies at the heart of Chawntay's creative practice. An alumna of the ArtWorksTO Next Stream program and The Remix Project, she continues to collaborate with organizations such as VIBE Arts, where she facilitates arts-based learning and community engagement.
Working primarily in oil and acrylic on canvas, Chawntay explores themes of Afro-Caribbean culture and contemporary Black experiences. Her work reflects a dialogue between identity, culture, and the evolving narratives of the African diaspora.
Instagram: @chawny_
Born in Jamaica and raised in Ontario, Canada, Sydné's immigrant background has deeply influenced both her life and artistic pursuits. Formally trained in garment design, furniture design, and textile/fibre arts, she embraces a boundary-breaking approach to creativity.
Beyond her studies, Sydné immerses herself in diverse mediums such as storytelling through photography and drawing. This interdisciplinary journey allows her to infuse a unique perspective into her work, seamlessly blending techniques and concepts from various disciplines to craft compelling and meaningful designs.
Sydné has a Bachelors in Design from OCAD University. Majoring in Textiles and Material Arts, her education provides a robust foundation in design principles and techniques, but it's her passion for exploring the diasporic experience that propels her design practice forward. In her creations, she seeks to open doors to new realms of travel and ideation, aspiring to develop a design practice that dives into and elevates the diasporic narrative. She firmly believes that design holds the power to connect people, weave together cultures, and ignite change. Sydné is dedicated to leveraging her creativity to leave an impact and a distinctive perspective of the world.
https://www.ethrltoether.com/blank-2
Brandon Baghaee is an Afro-Caribbean and Persian artist (b.2002) based in the GTA, holding a BFA in Drawing and Painting from OCAD University. His work has been exhibited in group and solo shows, including at The Drake Hotel, and commissioned by institutions such as Scotiabank Arena, Sports and the Arts, the City of Toronto, STEPS Public Art, the Richmond Hill Public Library, and CBC Toronto. Brandon has illustrated a children's book titled "Competitive Cole," exploring themes of childhood and sports. He has also received the Ontario Arts Council Visual Artists Creation Projects Grant and was the 2025 visual artist in residence at the Nia Centre for the Arts.
https://www.brandonbaghaee.com/
Instagram: @brandonbaghaee
Ehiko Odeh is a multidisciplinary artist from Lagos, Nigeria, her process is rooted in material transformation to evoke a sense of haze, ambiguity, bridging the organic with the archival as a mode of adaptation. Her work engages family history, food security, and coiffure as reflections of economic change, while investigating globalization, ecology, herbology, and the poetics of space.
Ehiko holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a minor in Creative Writing from OCAD University (2021), Her works have been exhibited at The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (2025), Design TO Festival (2024), United Contemporary (2025), Meridian Arts centre (2025), The Artist project (2024 & 2025) Abbozzo Gallery (2024), Nicholas Metivier Gallery (2023), BAND Gallery (2019 & 2023), The Gladstone House (2021-date), Kolkata's Academy of Fine Art, India (2023), XPACE Cultural Centre (2021).
She has garnered recognition from the Member of Parliament of Richmond Hill, Ontario (2023), Her work was recently acquired into the Government of Ontario's Art Collection (2025).
Instagram: @ehikoo
