About

Hi there, my name is Sade (shar-day) I am a Black woman artist, writer, and educator; and I write to you as both the descendant of stolen people (enslaved Africans, and indentured Indians, brought to stolen lands Trinidad and Grenada), and of settlers, who have benefitted from the domination and colonization of the land (Turtle Island) and the people. I was born and raised in so called “vancouver” and have come to know land that has been loved and cared for by Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil- Watuuth people since time immemorial. I am currently a freelance illustrator, MFA Candidate at OCAD U, and am working towards becoming a secondary or post secondary fine arts educator. I am passionate about decolonial art practices being made accessible to all people regardless of class, race, gender, or ability. I believe that art making plays an integral role in an empowered and full life, and that it is a human right to be able to create art that tells the stories of oppressed people across the globe.

I believe strongly in the power of art making for Black and Indigenous people, and in the power of arts education. I love working with youth in the arts because their excitement, enthusiasm, and for art making and knowledge production is inspiring. I make art because it is what I have always done. I spent most of my free time making art as a child, and that continued into my adulthood. My artwork centres around telling stories about Black folks through portraiture. When drawing or painting a Black person, be they real or a character I have created, I take the job of representing them seriously. I take the practice of drawing a person as an opportunity to spend time with the person, as a means of showing care and kindness to the person I am depicting. My portraits are an act of love for the person. I do this work to focus on the beauty and the complexity of Blackness rather than the suffering that comes along with deadly racism.