Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Caribbean photograph exhibition is making a Thursday night stop in Whitby By Stephen Weir The Station Gallery in Whitby is hosting a vibrant art exhibit featuring seven renowned Caribbean Canadian photographers, including Anthony Berot, the official photographer of the Caribbean Carnival. The exhibit, titled "Canadian Caribbean Photographic Arts Collective | Beyond the Carnival 6," has been on display all month and will run until August 25, 2024. This evening, Thursday, July 18th, the gallery will come alive with a special welcoming reception from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, featuring the enchanting steel pan drum music of the InfraRed Band. The exhibit showcases the talents of Benjamin Alunyo, Jenny Baboolal, Anthony Berot, Lisa Faure, Ian P. Grant, David Lewis, and Gilbert Medina. As members of the Canadian Caribbean Photographic Arts Collective (CCPAC), their mission is to capture and present images that celebrate Pan-Caribbean culture. The photographers aim to create a lasting

  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 Canada has taken as many carnival pictures as Ant

Stephen Weir Goes To The Movies In September Stephen Weir in a theatre  lobby ub July Ms Jean Augustine, Ms Everything, is about to be crowned Canada’s Movie Queen. Earlier this week the annual Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF) held it's 2022 Media Launch to roll out the movies that will be screened in theatres this September, and the show stopper is none other than   Steadfast – The Messenger And the Message,   a documentary about the life of  Canada’s first Black Canadian woman to serve as a Federal Minister of the Crown, Jean Augustine of course. The hour-long film  tells the amazing life story of this Grenadian Canadian Liberal politican who spent a dozen years in parliament and then become a non-stop community activist here in Toronto. The film was recently completed by Canadian director Fahim Hamid and has an amazing three-person castlist which actually includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau! The film will be shown the evening of Friday  September 9th,(Augustine’s 85 th  b

  CANADIAN CARIBBEAN PHOTOGRAPHERS EXHIBITION Beyond The Carnival Before The Carnival At Station Gallery   “Beyond the Carnival 5” is the latest exhibition of photographs of the Canadian Caribbean Photographic Arts Collective (CCPAC) and is now on at the Station Gallery in Whitby. The show of photographs by seven well known Toronto photographs opened early this month and runs until July 2nd.  This show, the groups fifth, features the work of Jenny Baboolal (pictured above),   Anthony Berot, Ian Grant, Horace Thorne, Peter  Faure, Gilbert Medina and David Lewis.  There are more than 60 photographs hanging in the gallery which is located in the Iroquois Park Sports Centre at 1450 Henry Street in Whitby. CCPAC was founded in 2017 by Anthony Berot and Ian Grant. Its objectives include exhibiting the photographic works of the collective and creating a legacy that highlights the excellent work of Canadian Caribbean photographers.Their work has been exhibited in Museums, Galleries and special

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS  By Stephen Weir  Photographer Anthony Berot is taking his art to the streets, even if it means that he and his Mas Model must be prepared to dodge cars, bikes, and bell ringing streetcars.     For the past 12-years Berot has been the official photographer of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival taking pictures of it all, costume launches to the Grand Parade. And now as of Sunday night as the last costume launch ends, Berot is posting samples of all of the 2022 costume events. Pictured above is Mas Model and NBA Dancer for the Toronto Raptors Mohogany Brown poses for Berot on Queen Street West outside of the LuLu Lounge after the end of Sunday night’s SugaCayne costume fete. The portrait was taken without flash, instead he used street lights, shop window reflections and the glare of oncoming traffic did get the trick done.   “It is SugaCayne on the road!” explained Berot. “ Mohogany is wearing  one of the beautiful designs showed earlier that night on stage at the Lu

Toronto marks Bob Marley’s 77th Birthday Eight-community leader to receive  Bob Marley Day Humanitarian Awards    Toronto City Council has proclaimed February 6th, Bob Marley Day in Toronto.  This is the 31st time that the city has honoured the late great Jamaican musician.  In previous years there have been public events held to mark the Reggae star’s birthday, this year it will be recorded at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre - The People's Residence and broadcast on YouTube at 3pm.   After the Proclamation issued by Mayor John Tory is read, we will honour this year’s recipients of the Bob Marley Humanitarian Award. Bookstore owner and author Itah Sadu will read from her book, a children’s story about how a new Canadian youngster makes friends with his principal over their mutual love for Bob Marley. We will also have a presentation on the progress of little Jamaica by Nadine Spencer of the Black Business and Professional Association. Receiving awa

All things Carnival will be on stage at Toronto Caribbean Carnival last hooray weekend.   By Stephen Weir   There is a saying amongst Toronto carnival lovers, “It never rains on the Caribana Weekend”. With a good forecast from the Weather Network and a lot of finger crossing on the part of the Festival Management Committee, it looks as though that 54-year old adage is going to ring true for at least one more summer.   This Friday, Saturday and Sunday the wrap-up to the 2021  Toronto Caribbean Carnival  will be held outdoors at the  Scarborough Town Centre .  Pan. Calypso. Dance. Food.  Costumes. Every form of Carnival Arts will be on display for three-days.   When the Carnival first announced its plans for the month of July, this weekend’s fete was earmarked to be a Caribbean Food Truck round up in the  Scarborough Town Centre’s  parking lot.  That idea was scrapped two weeks ago because another Food Truck festival –  Street Eats  – had already locked into the Scarborough Town Centre f

CCAP photographers Beyond the Carnival Exhibition has Gone Beyond the Station Gallery Art Bites by Stephen Weir:  The Whitby Station Gallery has closed its gallery doors because of the Pandemic lock-down. However, that doesn’t mean that the non-profit public art gallery has forgotten about the Black History Month , in fact last week the Station Gallery opened, albeit virtually, Beyond the Carnival 4 a new photographic exhibition. “ This photographic exhibition brings together a group of photographers whose mission is to capture and present images that focus on the Pan-Caribbean culture and to create a legacy that highlights the excellent work of Canadian Caribbean photographers,” said gallery curator Olex Wlasenko. In lieu of the shut-down, Wlasenko has filmed a half-hour walk through the exhibition. This video is available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/117228666896210/ . Beyond the Carnival 4 features the works of seven seasoned professionals who are members of the

Dwayne and Whitey (r) By Stephen Weir The Sunlime Canada mas band’s annual costume launch is coming to a computer near you.  On Sunday, March 29 th , the ever-popular medium sized band will be staging a live fashion show that can only be seen on the Internet. “ We are trying something new for Toronto, a virtual launch!” said Sunlime spokesman Niles “Whitey” Koski. “ We were going to have a standard launch party and then we decided to be strictly online.” “ We aren’t doing this because of the Virus.  I have been asked that a lot lately,” he told the Caribbean Camera. “ But no, we came up with the idea back in December.” Sunlime isn’t saying, at least not yet, where the launch will be held. The suggestion is that it will be in a hall in Toronto, where there is enough room for a large stage and professional lighting to make for good Internet viewing. DJ Toxic and MC Kevin Carrington will be the on-air ringmasters. Sunlime will also have a small live audience  - the media, d

New Show At the A Different Booklist Cultural Centre  It is just her second art show and sale, and the show has only been open for an hour, and already a painting has been sold and taken home by a happy buyer. Marley Berot, a 19-year old painter, is happy too but also a little worried she might run out of replacement canvases! Berot, a Toronto student by day and a budding artist who paints whenever she gets near her bedroom studio.  She paints faces, mostly Caribbean women’s faces in a colourful style that is uniquely hers. “ I tend to paint from photos and photo montages  that I have made,” Berot told the Camera. “ But sometimes, like the full body painting near the window (pictured) I don’t have a photo, the concept actually sprung from my mind. I had a vision and I put it to canvas as quickly as I could.” “ I would like to say that I do love painting faces.  It is easy to see what I am saying – it is right there in her face,” she continued. “Now as I get more confidence (sell