Faculty of Art

Cross-Disciplinary Art: Life Studies

Pixel Heller

The Choir

Community is a big theme in my art. I wanted to show its importance by creating large monumental paintings on fabric, each 10 feet tall. I see community in many forms around me. "The Choir" is a set of two paintings that show the unity, strength, and spiritual connection in the Black community. I use masks, figures, and colours to show how people come together and support each other. It's about the strong bond that forms when voices join as one. These paintings also show how people in a community stay strong and resilient when they come together.

“Such as a choir being a representation of a harmonious community, the importance and value of a community comes from the lack of it growing up. I found the value of a community in Toronto, and for the first time, I felt like I belonged. My new home has welcomed me and my Blackness, it has introduced me to several other communities that also welcome the deeper intricacies that make me who I am. Toronto has been my choir, and now I truly feel the harmonies unite.”