HERE & HOME: ARTIST TALK

A virtual artist talk with Djenabé Edouard, Felicia Byron and Tyjana Connolly, moderated by Esery Mondesir. The discussion explores familial histories and engages with the socioeconomic systems that support migratory labour but not migrant workers.

Curated by Djenabé Edouard, Here & Home presents the work of photographer Felicia Byron, spoken word artist Sydellia Ndiaye and choreographer Shai Buddah in an exhibition that brings visibility to the Afro Caribbean community and celebrates stories of migration, labour and legacy. 

Djenabé Edouard is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and curator keen on creating space for imagination, preserving oral histories, and sparking conversations that examine contemporary perspectives of the Afro-Caribbean experience. Her curatorial work is focused on the female gaze, identity, and Afro- Caribbean heritage. She is the Founder/Art Director of Aquarius Mood; a Curation House cultivating community at the intersection of fashion, art & astrology.

Felicia Byron is a Caribbean-Canadian internationally published editorial, portrait and commercial photographer and artist based in Toronto. Passionately viewing the world through her lens, Felicia specializes in environmental portraiture, vividly colourful beauty and conceptual editorials.Her connection to her Caribbean roots and a love of storytelling inform much of her personal work, like that of her portrait series “Out of Many” celebrating Jamaica, its culture and the strength, joy, beauty and resilience of its people. Dedicated to her craft, Felicia is committed to continually elevating her photographic process through immersive exploration, collaboration, and a keen curiosity.

Tyjana Connolly is a graduate in Political Science with a minor in Law & Society. She is Co-Founder of Black Eco Bloom, a non-profit that focuses on intersectional environmentalism, climate change in Black communities and helping Black women enter the environmental sector. She is also a Campaign Organizer at PSAC, focusing on Black workers rights advocacy. Her work focuses on the intersectionality of climate change, labour and gender. 

Ésery Mondésir is a Haitian-born video artist and filmmaker based in Toronto. He was a high school teacher and a labour organizer with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Unite- HERE and the Toronto & York Region Labour Council before receiving an MFA in cinema production from York University (Toronto) in 2017. Mondesir’s work draws from personal and collective memory, official archives and vernacular records, the everyday, to generate a reading of our societies from the margins. Made in collaboration with fellow members of the Haitian diaspora in Havana, Cuba and Tijuana, Mexico, his latest work films have been exhibited in art galleries and film festivals worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal, the Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY, the Norton Museum and the Third Horizon Film Festival in Miami, Fl. the Open City Festival in London, UK. and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Mondesir is an Assistant Professor at OCAD University and was the Vice president of the Faculty Association for a short term until last Fall.

Established in 1997, CONTACT is a not-for-profit organization celebrating the art and profession of photography. Committed to cultivating an inclusive and accessible approach to the medium, CONTACT builds community by providing a platform for dynamic collaborations and productive engagement between Canadian and international photographers, curators, partner organizations, and audiences, locally and globally.