Featuring Renée Williams (Executive Director, Edmonton Arts Council) as moderator and local Black artists Aliya Logun, Medgine, and Shaihiem Small, the panel will discuss the topic of representation in the arts. The night will begin with a short performance by Medgine and will end with a Q&A session to learn even more about these amazing artists.
This panel is co-presented with CARFAC.
About the Moderator
Renée Williams is a business leader and strategic communicator who joined the EAC in November 2024. She brings a passion for Edmonton and vast local experience to the role, including experience at Edmonton Economic Development Corporation and Fort Edmonton Park Management Company. She describes herself as“a lover of Edmonton’s vibrant festivals, theatre, exhibits and live music, attending and supporting our eclectic and exhilarating arts community.” She volunteered as co-chair of the 2023 Junos Host Committee, and“has built her career on reminding locals of the magic of her home city and telling the world about this unique and authentic destination.”
About the Artists
Aliya Logun is a distinguished portrait photographer, renowned for her compelling imagery that celebrates the beauty and essence of Black bodies and subjects around her. Her photography is not just a visual art form but a powerful statement on diversity and inclusion, resonating with audiences and inspiring meaningful conversations.
Through her lens, she captures not just the physical appearance but the spirit and vibrancy of her subjects, reflecting a deep, personal perspective on the world around her.
Shaihiem Small is an artist currently based in Edmonton Alberta, originally from Toronto Ontario. Shaihiem is a MacEwan Fine Arts graduate and has participated in multiple pop-up art shows across the city and the group show Five Artists One Love hosted at the AGA. His art explores themes concerning the ethos of cultural identity and the sublime nature of expanding universal consciousness in connection with an individual. This artist is currently balancing a fine art and tattoo career in his community of Edmonton.
Haitian-born spoken word artist and advocate, Medgine is a person for whom the love of language and the alchemy of words is second nature. Her multi-lingual upbringing (french, creole, english) not only prompted her to begin experimenting with the potential and magic of language, but naturally compelled her into a deep love of poetry. She has been featured in CBC, Global TV, Skirtsafire Festival and the Edmonton Poetry Festival. Medgine was a selected as a participant in the 2022 Mentorship Program with the Writer's Guild of Alberta's and became a mentor with the 2022 Horizon Circle Writers Program, a writing mentorship program for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC), ESL, and underrepresented writers living in Edmonton. In 2023, Medgine received the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund award, from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation, awarded to exceptional local artists to devote time to their artistic career and encouraging them to stay in our community.
She is the author of Waiting in the Land of the Living / Attendre dans le monde des vivants, published by The Polyglot, a multilingual poetry collection, that touches on navigating chronic illness, inter-generational healing, and the wrestle of waiting for answered prayers.