Deion Squires, How much a $$$ cost? (2023). Image courtesy of the artist.

Hard Black love potions from a golden glass
Deion Squires

Curated by Christina Oyawale & Kelsey Myler

June 5 – August 1, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, June 5, 7 – 9pm
Cannon Gallery

Hard Black love potions from a golden glass is an ongoing time-based photographic project by Toronto-born and UK-based photographer Deion Squires, co-curated by Christina Oyawale & Kelsey Myler. The project features a selection of expanded photographic sculpture and image work. Deion seeks to investigate and research the presence of Blackness in visual culture from an absurdist and Afrosurrealist framework. He does this through photographing the feverish, complex and mundane of Black life. Deion comes to terms with “the dreamlike possibility of black intimacy as an unlikely path to futurity”, inspired by the words of D. Scot Miller, while acknowledging the nuance of Blackness in a monolithic society.

The revelatory light of the photograph is staggering—a searing glow that passes through and passes over. The camera is a ray gun; load, aim, fire! The laser pierces through to where we cannot see, so that we may make sense of it. The image then is a portal by which we can bring things into the realm of the real. Attempting to reveal layers of the world so that they might be read, understood and absorbed. Making connections between the interiors of lived experience and the exteriors of shared space. The work processes the reconstruction of two-dimensional realities to reflect lived three-dimensional experiences as Black individuals. There is a quintessence of surrealism to living as a Black person that speaks to the unreal and sense of normality to those outside that lived experience. Hard Black Love seeks to investigate the uncanniness of Afrosurrealism, while discussing lived “realities” outside the notion of Black art only occupying the diasporic art landscape. The exhibition posits the questions: Who authenticates the truth? Whose responsibility or right is it to decide which realities to reveal? Where does this alternate reality, this sur-reality, lie?

Deion traverses the ephemerality of Blackness through vernacular images of family life, modern Black joy and the radical act of simply occupying space. This is done by exploring the visual history of violence against black people that is ingrained in aesthetic culture. Rather than completely invert the standard, we can move laterally; from non-fictional cruelty into fictional horror, we can settle into surrealism.

About the Artist

Born in Canada, the son of Caribbean immigrants, Deion Squires is an artist living and working out of London. Primarily image-based, his practice is largely influenced by queer identity, investigating the internet as a transformative tool, and performance as embodiment.

About the Curators

Christina Oyawale is a working-class queer disabled interdisciplinary-image artist, curator, and writer from Toronto, currently based in Winnipeg.

Kelsey Myler is a visual artist, archivist and arts worker from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Beadwork by Antoinette Baxter. Photo: Albany Sutherland.

Ode’imini-giizis: Strawberry Moon
Antoinette Baxter, Hazel Baxter, Denise Baxter, Albany Sutherland

Curated by Albany Sutherland

June 5 – August 1, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, June 5, 7 – 9pm
James Gallery

Ode’imini-giizis: Strawberry Moon brings together the work of four generations of women through intergenerational knowledge. Ode’imini-giizis refers to the month of June which is when the first berry of the year ripens. The strawberry means heart berry in Anishinaabemowin, which reflects its teachings of love.

Ode’imini-giizis features the work of four artists: the late Antoinette Baxter, Hazel Baxter, Denise Baxter, and Albany Sutherland. These four generations of women are connected through family ties and to the Albany River. Their work highlights generations of knowledge passed down through story and ceremony.

In Anishinaabe culture, matriarchal lineage plays a central role in the transmission of teachings and responsibilities. This exhibition is a reflection of that ongoing transfer of love, memory, and cultural continuity. It honours the labour of women and highlights the value of artistry that has been under-acknowledged.

Antoinette’s work features home-tanned mitts and moccasins with beaded woodland floral patterns. Hazel shares a strawberry-themed quilt to honour the first harvest of the season. Denise presents home-tanned hides made in collaboration with her community and students, honouring collective knowledge and the act of returning to land-based practices. Albany presents a collection of mixed media works developed ten years after completing her Berry Fast. Ode’imini-giizis explores how these artistic practices serve as a means for intergenerational knowledge and sharing.

Public Programming

Curatorial Tour: Saturday, June 27, 1pm
Albany Sutherland leads a relaxed tour of Ode’imini-giizis: Strawberry Moon. Drop in, no registration required. Fresh homemade strawberry juice will be served.

About the Artists & Curator

Albany Sutherland (she/her) is an artist and curator based in Hamilton, ON and a member of Marten Falls First Nation in Treaty 9 territory. She brings a community-centered and relational approach to her work, grounded in storytelling and land-based knowledge.

Denise Baxter (she/her) has served as Vice Provost of Indigenous Initiatives since 2017.

Hazel Baxter is a quilter, gardener, retired nurse, mother, and grandmother. In 1955, at the age of 10, she started to sew the tops for quilts on a treadle sewing machine.

Antoinette Baxter (1919-2016) was the eldest of 5 children born to Jacob and Maggie Achneepineskum on Pym Island on the Attawapiskat River.

As an artist-run centre, Hamilton Artists Inc. (the Inc.) empowers artists of all career levels to take risks with their contemporary visual arts practices and present their work in a critical context.

We are open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday 12–5pm, Friday 12–6pm and Saturday 12–5pm.

Accessibility: The Inc. is an accessible venue. Visit the websits for detailed information.

Hamilton Artists Inc.
155 James Street North
Hamilton, ON L8R 2K9
www.theinc.ca | 905.529.3355

Facebook @HamiltonArtistsInc
Instagram @HamiltonArtistsInc

Contact:
Sanaa Humayun, Artistic Director
sanaa@theinc.ca

The Inc. gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council, City of Hamilton, Canada Council for the Arts, Hamilton Community Foundation, Incite Foundation for the Arts, and all of our members, donors, sponsors, and programming partners.

Image Descriptions:
1. A close dark image lit from one light source of a Black person’s bare back and shoulders. Silver coins (nickles, dimes and quarters) are stuck to the skin of the subject, glistening in the light. The background is a dark navy blue.
2. A close up of brightly coloured intricate beadwork featuring three flowers and multicoloured leaves. In the center is a blue flower, a red flower to the left, a pink flower to the right.
3. A red and black logo featuring a horizontal red capital letter A with an intersecting lower case letter I. Underneath is the typed gallery name: Hamilton Artists. Inc in all caps in black.