OVO and the Toronto Raptors’ Welcome Toronto Creators program has returned for a second season with three new remarkable winners with diverse backgrounds. Artists Gordon Rowe, Ernesto Cabral, and Kyana Kingbird will be individually featured during three dedicated ‘Welcome Toronto’ Raptors games this season. Their artistry and stories will be widely shared across the team’s social media platforms, and during game broadcasts.
The Creators Program spotlights emerging BIPOC artists between the ages of 16 to 29. The program seeks to inspire youth in the city, celebrate the future of art and culture, and grow the game of basketball in Canada. Complex Canada caught up with this year’s winners.
Gordon Rowe
Hip-hop and Afro-centric focused illustrator and designer Gordon Rowe will be the first to be featured this Saturday, Feb. 12 when the Raptors play the Denver Nuggets. Rowe began drawing as a pastime at a young age, and started to hone his passion after family and peers encouraged his talent.
Inspired by his uncle Clive Wallace, another illustrator in his family, Rowe decided to make his dreams a reality and set it into motion. His biggest influences include artist Sam Spratt, and musician J. Cole. “When I was finishing high school, I started drawing the musical artists I was into at the time,” he says. “A lot of J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Jay- Z and a little Add-2. These days a lot of my focus goes to Afro centric and occult themes and I try to tell a story with my art depending on my mood.”
The Creators program has pushed him to remain dedicated. “You can get a lot done in three weeks. I’ve developed a new definition of busy!”
“Creating art for me is mandatory and I don’t have much say in the matter. I’ll [always] find time for it,” adds Rowe. “It’s my way of centering myself and making sense of my unorthodox environment.”
Ernesto Cabral
Contemporary collage artist and stop motion-like animator Ernesto Cabral will be featured when the Raptors play the Lakers on Friday, March 18th. After documenting hangouts with friends and family, Cabral began innovating his art into collages.
“It’s been rewarding for me to find ways in which media created for specific purposes could be re-contextualized and given a new life of sorts—allowing them to tell different stories,” says Cabral. “The pandemic has allowed me to speak more about personal themes especially around immigration and identity, creating work that can resonate with other people that feel as though they are from two worlds in one sense, and from neither in another.”
He describes the link his family photos gave him to his home as the reason photography is the medium he gravitates toward. “I’ve lived in Canada for more than half of my life, identity is certainly something I have struggled with figuring out and is constantly becoming a theme I speak about within my art practice overall.”
The Creators program has given him the opportunity to network and learn more about the industry. “There is a shift happening around prioritizing marginalized voices to tell their stories, and [it’s] meaningful for members of the community to see themselves represented within those stories. I know I will have the opportunity to learn a lot more within the next couple weeks and can’t wait to see what’s in store for me.”
Mi’kmaq and Ojibwe fancy shawl and jingle dress dancer Kyana Kingbird’s feature game is on Sunday, April 3 when the Raptors play the Miami Heat. Dancing has always been at the centre of Kingbird’s life, alongside her family.
“One of my biggest inspirations and influences is my older relative and knowledge keeper, Miigam’agan,” says Kingbird. “She brought me to pow wows and dance classes as a kid when my family wasn’t able to and mentored me as an adult in university. There are some people who embody what it means to live their truth in a good way, and she is one of those people.”
Her dance background is both traditional and contemporary, as she was taught tap, jazz, and ballet growing up. “I’ve continued to move, albeit much less, and expand on my dance forms and knowledge throughout my adult life. I feel that I can confidently express myself with my own personal dance style that is also reflective of individual songs.”
Kingbird also designs and creates regalia for herself and her family. “Pow wow dancing involves making regalia (outfit) that complements your dance style while describing you as well. This includes creating beadwork and sewing dresses and skirts with designs based off of our tribes and other personal descriptors. We also hire other talented Indigenous beaders and seamstresses when we can.”
“I hope to see more Indigenous people handed the mic and given opportunities to represent themselves and their tribes, families, rez, etc. So many of us have incredible stories to tell. It’s about time people start to listen.”
The Creators program is an opportunity for Kingbird to share her story in her own words. “It all still feels so new and exciting, but some messages that I’ve really absorbed are to take in everything, stay present in the moment, and to not lose sight of my vision. ”
