Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  And So It Begins. Photographer Anthony Berot Is Comin’ ANTHONY BEROT WITH BANDLEADER PHOTOS - BY SWEIR By Stephen Weir   Anthony Berot has already covered two costume launches in the past week, an FMC open house and is already getting his gear ready for a busy busy April. The EPIC carnival and SunLime launches are in the books and Jamaal Magloire’s Revellers launch at the Grand Luxe  coming up this weekend. The official photographer of the 2023 Toronto Caribbean Carnival figures this his 13 th  year taking pictures of the festival formally known as Caribana. A tall fit 70 something man, he is easy to spot at any and ALL carnival happenings. He has his video camera on a tripod, a camera (often two) around his neck, and when the Soca music is blaring he is dancin’ beside and around his gear. The colourful costume launches.  Blockos.  Children’s events. The King and Queen contest, Pan Alive and the Grand Parade. No living photographer in Canad...

  Thousands of children making a Mas at the T&T Sheppard Avenue West consulate   Toronto photographer and filmmaker  Jenny Baboolal  has just finished installing a photography exhibition at  The Consulate General of Trinidad and Tobago in Toronto  that will put a little bit of Carnival warmth into this cold Canadian winter.    The  photographic exhibit called The Art of Mas”, opened yesterday at the Sheppard Ave W Consulate, and is available for viewing online. It is also in-person, on a limited basis, to those with appointments to access services in the building.   The photo show which runs until August 31st is all about Carnival in T&T, and specifically children’s participation in the annual event.    Baboolal has selected over 30 framed pieces   which  document thousands of children’s emotional engagement with the annua festival and documents the wide range of the junior costumes used in the ...

Michele Pearson Clarke Selected as Toronto’s Second Photo Laureate by City Council Toronto’s next Photo Laureate will be Michele Pearson Clarke, pending Toronto City Council approval on April 16. She will be the second photographer to hold this position. Featured widely at exhibitions in Canada and the U.S.,Michele Pearson Clarke works primarily in photography, film, video and installation. Using archival, performative and process-oriented strategies, she explores the personal and political by considering experiences related to longing and loss. Born in Trinidad and now based in Toronto, Clarke holds an MSW from the University of Toronto, and received her MFA from Ryerson. She is currently a lecturer in the Documentary Media Studies program at Ryerson University. Toronto’s Photo Laureate is the first position of its kind in Canada. It honours a photographer recognized for exceptional photography and whose work focuses on subjects relevant to Torontonians. The Photo Lau...

Celebration of Life and Memory of Don Moreland - photo by  Anthony Berot Amazing support: Don Moreland’s legacy lives on in Sunday’s Celebration of Life and Memory gathering By Stephen Weir Thanks to his ever present ladder, Don Moreland was a giant among photographers, and even more than that for the   annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival.   The popular photographer passed away January 18 as the result of a heart attack. On Sunday his family, friends and supporters gathered at a Dundas Street We Legion Hall to celebrate his life and legacy. Don’s partner of 22 years, Susanna Noel and her sons and daughters and his brother and sister welcomed over a 100 guests and well wishers to the afternoon event.   “Today Don would have turned 59,” said Susanna Noel “ So let’s all wish him Happy Birthday.”   Don Moreland - Facebook photo “(Don) was a beacon for all to see and admire. Bold and confident, his was a tenacious soul whose radiance was so grand h...

Solo Show Will Attract The Masses To The AGO Photos and Story By Stephen Weir Even though the Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noire exhibition doesn't open until this evening, there is a big buzz in the downtown Toronto already! Internationally acclaimed for her powerful portraits of Black women - New York based artist Mickalene Thomas has brought to Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario a remarkable exhibition that sparks urgent questions about race and sexuality and how we see the Black female body. On Tuesday the artist came to  Toronto to hold court at a crowded morning media scrum. A large group of television, radio and print journalists (including me on behalf of Caribbean Camera) followed the artist through the large multi-media show as she gave the background of each piece in the show. " I don't speak French," the artist told the Caribbean Camera. "I used French because it is very descriptive (to call the show Femmes Noires).When you get off the el...

--> Cover for Kid's Parade book by Don Moreland  The Faces Of This Year's Festivals By Stephen Weir For the past two-weeks photographer Don Moreland has been pouring over the thousands of photographs that he and his team of photographers took at this year’s Toronto Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade, the Children’s Parade and the King and Queen Competition.   By this weekend his first copies of his coffee table photography books about the just completed carnival will begin to roll off the presses. “I am quite proud of our parade photographs. There were three of us taking pictures for the book. We spread ourselves around the route and got every section in each of the eleven bands that took part in the parade,” Don Moreland told the Camera. “If you went down the road this year, your photograph is in all likelihood in our Grand Parade photography book.   The same holds true for the Kiddies Parade and the King and Queen Show.” King and Queen Book Co...