Tyshan Wright

Photos: Tyshan Wright photographed by Steve Farmer. Maroon Culture Group photographed in Accompong, c. 1985; Tyshan Wright’s mother—Cynthia “Ayo” Wright—is second from the left in the yellow dress.

“I grew up listening to traditional songs passed down from my mother, and other Maroons singing, dancing, calling to the ancestors with instruments like the shaker, bass and gumbe drums… My culture is my muse.”

Kjipuktuk (Halifax)-based artist Tyshan Wright works at the intersection of contemporary art and traditional Jamaican Maroon culture and craft. Regarded as a “Keeper of the Heritage” of the Jamaican Maroons (Jamaica Gleaner, 2010), Wright is a descendant of Africans who evaded enslavement and created their own self-sustaining communities in the mountains of Jamaica in the 1600s. His work unites present with past narratives of Maroon experience in diaspora—from the Maroons’ origins in the Akan region of Ghana, to their resistance towards slavery in 17th century Jamaica, to the exile of more than 500 Maroons from Trelawny Town (a region of Jamaica’s remote Cockpit Country) to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1796, and beyond. Wright examines the enduring cultural influence of the Trelawny Town Maroons’ time in Atlantic Canada, a region still home to many of their descendants. A 2021-22 Artist-In-Residence Fellow at Slavery North (formerly the Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery, NSCAD University), he was the Atlantic region nominee shortlisted for the 2022 Sobey Art Award (Sobey Art Foundation/National Gallery of Canada). Wright’s work has been acquired by the National Gallery of Canada, the Dalhousie Art Gallery, the Nova Scotia Art Bank, and presented in exhibitions and artist talks at Canadian galleries and museums including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Confederation Centre of the Arts, and the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.


Solo Exhibitions

  • GUMBE (Zalucky Contemporary, 2024)

  • Maroon Town (MSVU Art Gallery, 2023)

  • Myal (The Craig Gallery, Halifax, 2021)

Group Exhibitions

  • Biennale National de Sculpture Contemporaine (Biennale National de Sculpture Contemporaine, Trois Rivières, 2024)

  • Canadian Digital Gallery (Pan African Heritage Museum, Accra, Ghana, 2024)

  • Sustainability Through Craft (Mary E. Black Gallery, 2023)

  • Human Capital (Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, 2023)

  • Inner/Outer Space (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Yarmouth, 2023)

  • 2022 Sobey Art Award Exhibition (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2022-2023)

  • after this Exhibition (Creative Counter-Memorializations: A Symposium/Gathering, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, 2022)

  • Opening (Mary E. Black Gallery, Halifax, 2022)

  • Blackout (Atlantic Arts Symposium, Jones Gallery Contemporary Art + Projects, St. John, 2022)

  • Blackout (Nocturne: Art At Night, Halifax, 2022)

  • Festival Art Souterrain 2022 (Places des Arts, Montreal, 2022)

  • Atlantic Vernacular Digital Exhibition (Craft NB, 2022)

  • Myal (The Craig Gallery, Halifax, 2021)

  • 50 Things: An Interactive Art Adventure (Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, Halifax, 2021)

  • Nova Scotia Art Bank Exhibition (Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, 2018)

  • Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2017)

  • Canada: Day 1 (Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, 2017)

Awards & Recognitions

  • Emerging Artist Recognition Award (Arts Nova Scotia, 2022)

  • Sobey Art Award, Atlantic region nominee (Sobey Art Foundation/National Gallery of Canada, 2022)

  • Keeper Of The Heritage (Jamaica Gleaner, 2010)

Exhibition Catalogues

  • Tyshan Wright (2022 Sobey Art Award exhibition catalogue, produced by: National Gallery of Canada; Curators: Stephanie Burdzy and Jonathan Shaughnessy, 2022)

  • Gumbe I (Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood exhibition catalogue, produced by: Art Gallery of Ontario; Curators: Andrew Hunter and Anique Jordan, 2017)

  • Abeng (Canada: Day 1 exhibition catalogue, produced by: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21; Curator: Dan Conlin, 2017)

Juried Residencies

  • Artist In Residence Fellow (Slavery North, formerly the Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery, 2022-2023)

  • Craft LAIR Local Artist In Residence (Centre for Craft Nova Scotia, 2019)

Performances

  • Tyshan Wright: Maroon Town (Durational Performances, MSVU Art Gallery, 2023)

  • Erasure Art Collective: Blackout (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2024)

  • Erasure Art Collective: Blackout (STAGES Festival, 2024)

  • Erasure Art Collective: Blackout (Prismatic Arts Festival, 2024)

  • Erasure Art Collective: Blackout (Arts Symposium @ St. John Arts Centre, 2022)

Artist Talks

  • Tyshan Wright: Maroon Town (Artist Talk, MSVU Art Gallery, 2023)

  • Tyshan Wright: Traditional Craft Meets Contemporary Art (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia—in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada and the Sobey Art Foundation—Halifax, 2023)

  • Blackout (Artist Talk, Arts Symposium @ St. John Arts Centre, 2022)

  • The Trelawny Town Maroons: Between Slavery and Sovereignty (Institute Fellow Talk, Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery, NSCAD University)

  • Jamaican Maroon Culture and Contemporary Art (Artist Talk, ESAH-2020: Survey of 20th Century Craft, NSCAD University, 2019)

  • “Go back and fetch”: Positioning Maroon Tradition in Contemporary Canada (Artist Talk, A Handmade Assembly @ Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, 2017)

  • Canada Day 1 Artist Series (Artist Talk, Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, 2017)