For over 35 years, my art has explored the forces shaping everyday life. Music and writing guide my work, and with Grateful, I feel that I accomplished this.
#TBT #Throwback #RehearsalLife #FlashbackFriday #InTheStudio #MakingMagic #StudioLife #BehindTheMusic #MusicJourney #CreatingArt
Wendy "Motion" Brathwaite and DJ L’Oqenz's 2016 stage production Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape is an intricate take on oral history and music. The play is a coming-of-age story told through two Toronto girls as they grapple with identity and womanhood while they travel through soundcapes.
Forever grateful for my album team—thank you for years of collaboration, music, and memories. So much love for everyone who’s been part of this journey 🤍🎶
#Throwback #RehearsalLife #FlashbackFriday #InTheStudio #MakingMagic #StudioLife #BehindTheMusic #MusicJourney #CreatingArt #SongwritersLife
I am happy to announce that my episode on, "Living on the B Side", is now live! I had a beautiful conversation with Birgit on Living on the B Side, where we talked about my album Grateful and the responsibility and power of music. Check out my LinkTree to tune in on this episode!
Screenshot of Camille Turner's Nave, a time traveler dressed in white in a church photographed from behind. An ancestor with a painted face next to different shots of ocean
Commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art, Camille Turner's Nave (2022), is an award-winning immersive multimedia installation. Turner plays a time traveler from the Age of Awakening in the future who visits a church in the past Age of Silence, around 2021.
#Art #BlackExpressiveCulture
Throwback to the one and only Neil "BassOne" Benskin recording in studio 🎶
#TBT #Throwback #RehearsalLife #FlashbackFriday #InTheStudio #MakingMagic #StudioLife #BehindTheMusic #MusicJourney #CreatingArt #SongwritersLife #MusicTeam
Referred to as "aesthetic and spiritual sister of Black Power" by writer Larry Neal, the Black Arts Movement (BAM) paved the way for contemporary Black expressive culture!
#BAM #BlackArtsMovement #BlackExpressiveCulture #Poetry #BlackAndFree
Most people don't think about Blackness when they think about Punk culture, but Black communities have a deep history within the genre, including the work of guitarist Bo Diddly and the first Black punk band, Pure Hell.
#BlackPunk #AfroPunk #BlackHistory #Blackmusic #BlackArt #BlackAndFree
Behind the scenes of ABCD 🎶 Created in good company and flowing jam sessions. A reminder that even when we fail, we rise again—and to never give up when choosing a new path.
#TBT #Throwback #RehearsalLife #FlashbackFriday #InTheStudio #MakingMagic #StudioLife #BehindTheMusic #MusicJourney
Katherine McKittrick's A Smile Split by the Stars (2024) shares multiple beautiful interpretations of nourbeSe philip’s poem, “Meditations on the Declension of Beauty by the Girl with the Flying Cheek-bones.”
#Poetry #Ontario #BlackArts #BlackAndFree
Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) had branches in Toronto, Nova Scotia, and Montreal!
#MarcusGarvey #BlackCanadianHistory #BlackAndFree
A throwback coral post featuring an image of Naila's celebratory dinner after a day of recording.
A throwback to post-recording studio celebratory bites from 2024 🍽️ Grateful for the musicians, producer, and engineer who filled the process with care, collaboration, and love.
#TBT #Throwback #RehearsalLife #FlashbackFriday #InTheStudio #MakingMagic #StudioLife #BehindTheMusic #MusicJourney
Congratulations to former Black And Free PhD Research Assistant Dr. Lara El Mekaui on her article "Caribana and Carnival: Belonging as Resistance and Remembrance" in the Journal of Black Studies!
#BlackStudies #BlackAndFree #Caribana #BlackArt #Carnival
A mixed media art piece depicting the alleged arson commited by Marie-Joseph Angélique in Montreal.
Marie-Joseph Angélique was a Madeira-born woman, who was enslaved in New France 1700s. In 1734, she was executed for allegedly committing a major act of arson in Montreal. However, her conviction is contested by many historians today. (Photo: Kit Lang)
Throwback to my reflections at the airport in Montreal after a long week of recording Grateful in November 2024. I was exhausted and elated.
#BlackAndFree #Music #Black #Artist #Artspace #Musicforlife Musicmaker #Musicislove
Chicago-based artist Simone Leigh’s massive sculpture Brickhouse (2020) thinks through space by refusing silencing and fragility through the demanding attention in much the same way that Black womxn’s activism has taken the street and altered the city scape.
#SimoneLeigh #BrickHouse #Sculpture
Gizzada has always had a sentimental value to me. The recipe was shared with me by an elder that I respect, and I recited it as it was told to me in the short film Gizzada (2024) that i created in collaboration with Aljumaine Gayle.
That’s a wrap! 🎬 Throw back to when recording, mixing, and mastering are officially complete. I’m beyond grateful for the incredible people I got to work with on this — your talent, energy, and support brought this project to life. Couldn’t have done it without you. 🎶✨
Wash Day (2018) is an award-winning ten-minute short documentary by filmmaker Kourtney Jackson that closely follows the attention to detail and manual dexterity required to execute acts of wetting, rubbing, oiling, greasing, brushing, combing, parting, waving, twisting, plating, braiding, & locking.
Thank you Euro Indie Music for the feature!
Check out the link to see the full interview: euroindiemusic.info/2025/12/30/c...
Antigua and Barbuda gained independence from the United Kingdom on November 1st, 1981
#PrinceKlaas #AntiguaandBarbuda #Independence #SlaveryAbolition #SlaveRevolts #BlackAndFree
Throwback to November 2024 when we were recording Grateful at @redtubestudio! Here is a reel of awesome keyboardist Joey Shanahan bringing the vibes. This is the second album of my mine that Joey's played on - so grateful for this collaboration.
#BlackAndFree #Music #Black #Artist #Artspace
Created in collaboration with Aljumaine Gayle, Her Flowers (2024) features a series of images from National Heroes Park in Kingston, Jamaica and my reflections on gratitude, love and community.
Toronto-based sculptor Charmaine Lurch’s multidimensional sculpture “Revisiting Sycorax” was part of her exhibition Conversations in Flux: Visible Presence Unfolding in Time and Space, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Lower Gallery, October 2015.
#CharmaineLurch #wire #sculpture #BlackArtists
Feeling grateful and proud! Thank you for streaming, sharing, and believing 🙏✨ The lyrics reflect and incorporate my research so hearing that my album was #1 on CJSR 88.5 means the world. Absolutely thrilled. ❤️🎶 #Grateful
#BlackAndFree #Music #Black #Artist #Artspace #Musicforlife #Musicmaker
Anthony is the first Black Canadian woman to write and produce a television show on a major prime time Canadian network. A television series version of 'Da Kink in My Hair began airing in 2007 and Anthony was a cast member before the show was cancelled in 2009.
In 2024, I premiered four short films that I created with Toronto-based filmmaker Aljumaine Gayle. Black Cake (2024) is a film that I shot while visiting the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre and is a reflection on food, family, memory and diaspora.
#BlackCake #RumCake #Diaspora #culture #film
As 2025 is coming to a close, I would like to wish you all a happy holiday and joyous New Year. This is my final post of the year, and I look forward to connecting with you in 2026.
#HappyHolidays #HappyNewYear #BlackAndFree
Black and Free Logos
Check out the evolution of the Black and Free logo! It had quite the shift over the years. The original logo was inspired by West African textiles and patterns, while the new logo is a more modern take on Blackness and Freedom.
#graphicdesign #logo #art #design
Throwback to when my, now not so little, Ruby could fit in this bed! I can't believe how much she has grown!
#DogsofInstagram #puppy #GoldenLab #BlackAndFree
