When I first began learning about the art and science of photography and how to shoot and develop film using SLR cameras, first through the Toronto School of Art as a twelve-year-old among adults and soon after as a teenage visual arts major through the once highly competitive Claude Watson Arts Program at Earl Haig Secondary School, I was satisfied with sharing my work with my classmates, a handful of close friends, and my parents.

Last Friday, August 11, 2023, was the 50th anniversary of hip-hop culture. I had the good fortune of being interviewed on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning about the momentous occasion, the impact of hip-hop culture on a global scale, Toronto’s hip-hop culture, Project T-Dot, which is my documentary project on Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history, and other related topics. 

This year is Canon Canada’s 50th anniversary, and I am thrilled to be a Canon Canada ambassador after renewing my contract for the second time this spring. 

On Thursday, May 4, 2023, I was part of a fantastic panel entitled Feeling To Healing: A Creator’s Journey To Better Mental Health, produced by the Henry’s Foundation in partnership with CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, which took place at Henry’s new location at 185 Church Street in Toronto.

Applications for the third year of Canon’s FUTURES program are now available here via the Canon Creator Lab until Friday, June 30, 2023.

On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, I had the honour of speaking as part of a panel for the first Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, an event at and via the Art Gallery of Ontario, thanks to my thoughtful and innovative AGO colleagues Audrey Hudson, Richard & Elizabeth Currie, Chief, Education & Programming, and Charlotte Big Canoe, Program Curator, Indigenous Projects.

If left to my own devices, and when different forms of stress lead me to forget much of what I have learned about embodying a positive mindset, I can lack gratitude for the overabundance of blessings in my life.