The local art collective Babely Shades transformed Pressed café from a casual-cool hangout to an avant-garde art exhibit for their art opening on Nov. 13. To the average coffee drinker, the art may be aesthetically pleasing, but underneath that there’s an empowering story: all the art is created by people of colour.
According to their Facebook page, Babely Shades started as a collective of people of colour from the Ottawa area who noticed a lack of visibility and awareness towards a number of marginalized groups in the local art community, particularly people of colour, queer, and trans individuals.
Members of the collective banded together to garner recognition for the efforts of people of colour and other marginalized individuals in the art community.
At Pressed, the event was attended by a number of people from diverse backgrounds, some of them artists, others seeking to support their friends, and some of them just looking for an inclusive place to hang out.
Emily Janek, an art student, said the paintings are intriguing because of their message.
“A lot of the paintings are interesting. You can tell they were chosen because they all have a certain theme of mistreatment,” Janek said.
One particular art piece by Hiba Roble shows a person crying, with the painting titled “Black.” Roble said her piece is about challenges people of colour face in society.
“For ‘Black’ I really expressed my struggles within the white society,” Roble said. “I think what I wanted to do with these pieces is express the inner struggles that I have with being black, with being a first generation child, [with being] from a middle-lower income family, and [having] to figure out things on my own.”
According to Janek, there has been a rise in artists of colour dedicating their art style to capturing the lives of people of colour, which consequently brings their struggles to light.
Janek, a white woman, said she understands that people of colour are facing struggles, and acknowledged her experiences are different.
“Art is one of the major ways people relate to one another,” she said. “It’s important to understand one another’s experiences and where they’re coming from.”
Roble said her art is meant to be relatable.
“I don’t think I have to teach white people anything in regard to my struggles of being me,” she said. “I think my art is for anyone who is struggling with being in a heteronormative, white patriarchal society. If white people understand it, then I’m very grateful for that.”
The art will remain on display until the end of December, and is available for sale at Pressed.
