Justine's September Picks

Justine started at Likely in October of 2020. We were lucky enough to host her work in the gallery at the same time. A dear longtime friend, Justine is a powerful compassionate force here at the shop and we're so grateful for her presence.

Favourite playlist to play in the shop:

My go-to is a Spotify playlist called Liming, which is an extensive ongoing collection of music from Brooklyn based Sudanese-American artist Ahmed of Sinkane (@sinkane). Ahmed adds to this mix every week and has everything on it from John Prine to François Hardy to William Onyeabor. It's really endless, has introduced me to a lot of great musicians, and always puts me in a good mood. Hear it here: Liming Playlist

Native Arts Society, lead by Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction is an organization I find really beautiful. They are an Indigenous 2S/Queer/Trans collective working hard right now to crowd source funds to open a gallery space and studio this fall. This space would highlight the works of some of the Indigenous unhoused folks in our city and help advocate for fair pricing for their art. The studio would be a safe space to build community and promote healing through art. Keep an eye out for one of their amazing art raffles! 

Having the privilege to showcase my stained glass work and short film I created, Emotional Armour in the Likely General Gallery space for the month of October in 2020. Which was also the month I conveniently started working in the shop! I had created a series of wearable stained glass pieces, half of which were in Iceland for a group exhibition that I couldn't attend, that Brooke kindly invited me to share in the shop. In the short window of time between lockdowns when we were open to the public I got to shyly sit back and watch folks come in and experience my work. Very memorable and very meaningful.