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Simone Elizabeth Saunders

@simoneelizabethsaunders

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Punch-needle• Textiles • Calgary-based • 🇯🇲🇨🇦• ENCOMPASS THE GALAXY BOOK - ORDER NOW 👇🏽

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Un musée dans un hôtel ou un hôtel dans un musée ?

Le 21c Museum Hotel de Louisville, aux États-Unis, fait dialoguer art contemporain et hospitalité.

📅 Exposition « Revival » jusqu’en janvier 2027
🎟 Entrée gratuite · Ouvert 24 h/24, 7 j/7

L’exposition « Revival: Digging Into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow », dont le commissariat a été assuré par @alicegraystites , nous invite à réfléchir autant aux messages transmis par les artistes qu’aux techniques et aux matériaux utilisés pour les exprimer.

Explorer les vestiges du passé permet de mettre en lumière les blessures de l’histoire. Mais regarder en arrière ouvre aussi des perspectives sur l’avenir, entre ce que nous choisissons de transmettre et ce que nous souhaitons réinventer.

Ces récits prennent forme à travers 70 œuvres de 47 artistes.

Artistes des œuvres photographiées :
- Yinka Shonibare @yinkashonibarestudio
- Titus Kaphar
- Stan Squirewell @ssquirewell
- Carlos Gámez de Francisco @cgdfrancisco
- Uuriintuya Dagvasambuu @uureeart
- Duke Riley @dukerileystudio
- Hew Locke @hewdjlocke
- Myrlande Constant
- Suchitra Mattai @suchitramattaistudio
- Stacey Gillian Abe @stacey_gillian_abe
- Melvin L. Nesbitt Jr. @melvinnesbittjr
- April Bey @aprilbey_
- Kyle Meyer @thekylemeyer
- Manuel Hernandez @toltecatl_manuel
- Simone Elizabeth Saunders @simoneelizabethsaunders
- Athi-Patra Ruga @athipatra
- Maxim Wakultschik @wakultschik.art

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Restocked in person and online 🎉

'Making Place: A Map of Black Calgary' is available to add to your collection of powerful stories that shaped Calgary's history.

Launched 5 March 2026 in collaboration by Calgary Institute for the Humanities with The Bookshop at Esker at Esker Foundation.

For decades, Black Calgary was mostly confined to undesirable pockets in the city core. Although the people resented these boundaries and the strictures that enforced them, proximity meant friends and family were always nearby. In the early-to-mid 1950s circumstances began to change, and greater financial security led to the scattering of community. Fortunately, the dissolution of Black East Calgary did not shatter the bonds formed among the members and descendants of the Black migration of 1910 who had left the northern farms to try and make a life in the Prairie cities.

This map ends in 1970. Around that time, immigration from the Caribbean and Africa increased significantly. Those populations have enriched our lives, and while a map tracing their contributions would be compelling, it would require much more space. This map focuses on the earlier years that made place for us all.

Each element on the map connects to at least one other, and the first events connect to the last. The Stampede Corral where Floyd Sneed triumphed in 1970 was housed on the same Exhibition Grounds where John Ware triumphed in 1893. In this way, we are able to follow the dots, recognizing that the survival of communities was not inevitable. Someone who walked ahead did the work.

Text: Cheryl Foggo
Artwork: Simone Elizabeth Saunders
Photography: John Dean
Editing: Jim Ellis
Design: Glenn Mielke

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Thank you to @yamagucccci for these lovely images!

It was a pleasure to host Cheryl Foggo, Simone Elizabeth Saunders, and TEEINTHEAM for an unforgettable evening celebrating the launch of 'Making Place: A Map of Black Calgary'.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to support these incredible artists and storytellers whose work shines a light on the contributions of Black Calgarians throughout history.

We sold out of the maps earlier this year, and we're excited to share that they are now back in stock!

A special thank you to Cheryl Foggo for the care, dedication, and research she has poured into bringing these stories to life.

Thank you to Simone Elizabeth Saunders for her stunning artwork, which beautifully honours the stories of these people who are a part of shaping Calgary's story. And thank you to TEEINTHEAM for your beautiful voice, weaving together the past, present, and future in a truly moving performance.

We are also grateful to Jim Ellis and the the Calgary Institute for the Humanities team for creating this important ongoing project, for trusting us to host the launch and supporting local artists to bring these maps and guides to life.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the evening so memorable by showing up for the artists. ❤️

This program took place inside the exhibition:
Alexandre Pépin: 'Lavender' presented at Esker Foundation January 24 - April 26, 2026

#YYCBookshop
#EskerFoundation
#YYCArts
#CalgaryAtlasProject
#CalgaryBlackHistory

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🌸🧵🌸🧵 Through vibrant compositions and intricate stitching, 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 draws on motifs and iconography from her Jamaican heritage, weaving together personal and collective histories. Her work engages socio-cultural narratives that reclaim power from oppressive ideologies, positioning the body as both a site of beauty and resistance.

Now on view in dialogue with new paintings by 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗵 until June 13.
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Simone Elizabeth Saunders, (Be)Longing VII, 2024
30 x 20 x 1.2 in.
Hand tufted acrylic, cotton, wool and metallic yarn on cotton rug warp

Simone Elizabeth Saunders, (Be)Longing V, 2024
30 x 20 x 1.2 in.
Hand tufted acrylic, cotton, wool and metallic yarn on cotton rug warp

#SimoneElizabethSaunders #TextileArt #CanadianArt #UnitedContemporary

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The @contactphoto provided inspiration for Saturday’s Art & Food Excursion, as we viewed lens-based work framed on walls, alongside poetry, on billboards & buildings, printed on organza & published in photobooks.

We began at @jrewcreations, where Jaime Aludos & Andrew Foster serve delicious Jamaican street food alongside handmade crochet clothing.

At @unitedcontemporary, we toured Ghanaian-Nigerian artist @delali.cofie’s solo show A Place of Ours with curator @emcroning @emc.contemporary. The exhibition offers an intimate reflection on family, community & the evolving meaning of home. Also on view are @gordon_shadrach paintings & @simoneelizabethsaunders textile work that examine how identity is constructed, performed & preserved through adornment. As we headed west, we viewed Delali’s billboard installation near Queen & Augusta, inviting passersby into a scene drawn from everyday life in Accra.

At @contact_pbl, director @briandstdenis explained how the Lab invited @artexte to organize the Women’s Image Library, an exhibition of women photographers’ significant & often overlooked contributions to Canadian art. Exhibiting artist @suzylake5 joined us to speak about her work on view & her career trajectory, from the civil rights movement in Detroit, to the art scene in Montreal, to teaching at the University of Guelph & expanding her practice in Toronto. Decades before “the selfie” sparked a cultural revolution, Suzy changed the course of art history by making herself the subject of her pictures & using her camera & elements of theatre & performance to investigate how we manufacture images of identity. The subject of a 2014 @agotoronto retrospective, in 2016 she received the Scotiabank Photography Award & the Governor General’s Award in Visual & Media Arts.

Lastly, from the Lab’s 2nd floor window & at street level, we took in An Abundance Of Plenty, a building-sized print by @thandiwe_muriu, a Kenyan artist who examines themes of identity, culture & female empowerment through works inspired by textiles, primarily Ankara (wax) & East African kanga fabric that she uses as a canvas. The monumental piece was curated by @josephinedenis & presented by @blackartnd

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Now on view in our upper gallery, the dynamic textile practice of 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 in dialogue with new paintings by 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗵.

Saunders’ richly layered textile works centre Black womanhood, amplifying joy, strength, and resilience. Through vibrant compositions and intricate stitching, she draws on motifs and iconography from her Jamaican heritage, weaving together personal and collective histories. Her work engages socio-cultural narratives that reclaim power from oppressive ideologies, positioning the body as both a site of beauty and resistance.

Saunders work is proudly presented with thanks to Emilie Croning and TrépanierBaer Gallery.
.
Simone Elizabeth Saunders, (Be)Longing V, 2024
30 x 20 x 1.2 in.
Hand tufted acrylic, cotton, wool and metallic yarn on cotton rug warp

Simone Elizabeth Saunders, (Be)Longing VII, 2024
30 x 20 x 1.2 in.
Hand tufted acrylic, cotton, wool and metallic yarn on cotton rug warp

#SimoneElizabethSaunders #GordonShadrach #UnitedContemporary

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[Opening] Toronto's @unitedcontemporary presents two new exhibitions, starting tomorrow.

→ Opening Reception: Thursday, May 7, 6–8 pm

🌺 Delali Cofie | 𝑨 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑶𝒖𝒓𝒔 🌺
Curated by Emilie Croning (@emcroning), as part of the 2026 @contactphoto Festival

"Play, rest, conversation, and wandering unfold gently across Cofie’s images, attending to the subtle acts through which a sense of belonging slowly takes shape. In this way, the work unfolds as a form of visual language, where meaning emerges through rhythm, repetition, and care. To fully encounter these images, however, requires a different mode of attention—one grounded not only in looking, but in listening."

✨ Simone Elizabeth Saunders & Gordon Shadrach | 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 ✨

"Together, both artists examine how identity is constructed, performed, and preserved through adornment. Whether through beadwork or textile, their practices reflect on the body as a vessel of history, shaped by inheritance, ritual, and personal expression. In this shared space, adornment becomes both archive and assertion: a means of remembering, resisting, and becoming."

—

Images:

1) Delali Cofie (@delali.cofie)

2) Simone Elizabeth Saunders (@simoneelizabethsaunders)
(Be)Longing V, 2024
Hand tufted acrylic, cotton, wool and metallic yarn on cotton rug warp

#unitedcontemporary #delalicofie #simoneelizabethsaunders #gordonshadrach #contactphotographyfestival

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Join us for the opening of 𝘈 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘶𝘳𝘴 by 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗹𝗶 𝗖𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗲, alongside new works by 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 and 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗵.

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 7, 6–8 pm
📍 United Contemporary, 129 Tecumseth Street

Presented as a core exhibition for the 2026 CONTACT Photo Festival and curated by 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 of EMC Contemporary, 𝘈 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘶𝘳𝘴 brings together a body of work developed over the past seven years—an intimate reflection on family, community, and the evolving meaning of home.

In dialogue with Cofie’s photographs, we present new paintings by 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗵 alongside the textile works of Calgary-based 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀. Together, their practices explore processes of becoming, memory, and embodied identity, distinct yet deeply resonant.
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Delali Cofie, Captain, 2026
Archival Pigment Print, Framed
8.5 x 13 in.
Edition of 5 + 2AP

Simone Elizabeth Saunders, (Be)Longing V, 2024
Hand tufted acrylic, cotton, wool and metallic yarn on cotton rug warp
30 x 20 x 1.2 in.

Gordon Shadrach, Wring, 2026
Oil on wood, diptych
18 x 24 in.

#DelaliCofie #EMCContemporary #CONTACTFestival #GordonShadrach #SimoneElizabethSaunders

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I picked up this beautiful book at the @ngvmelbourne book shop the other day and let me tell you, I cried when I read it.

Such incredible work @sharbreon @commonthreadspress

With wonderful textile artists @simoneelizabethsaunders @nastassjaebony @blackwomenstitch @lashawndacrowe @jasminebestart @fadometer

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We want to thank everyone who joined us for our first bookshop event of 2026 ✨

Calgary Atlas Project Launch – Making Place: A Map of Black Calgary
Making Space: In Conversation with Cheryl Foggo and Simone Elizabeth Saunders

Thank you to Cheryl Foggo for this work and for your long-standing dedication to preserving Black history. We are deeply honoured that you chose to share this history, so closely connected to your own, with us.

Thank you to Simone Elizabeth Saunders for the care you created through the artwork that brought the map to life.

Thank you @teeintheamofficial_ for grounding us in music and bringing your magic to the evening 🎶

Thank you to Jim Ellis and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities for partnering with us and trusting us to curate this event.

Credits:
Photography: John Dean
Editing: Jim Ellis
Design: Glenn Mielke

And thank you to all the staff and volunteers who supported this event—we truly couldn’t do this work without you. 🤍
Event photography by @yamagucccci

#CalgaryBlackHistory
#EskerFoundation
#CherylFoggo
#LiteraryEventsYYC
#SimoneElizabethSaunders
#CalgaryAtlasproject A group of attendees stand closely together, viewing a textile artwork on a gallery wall composed of historical photographs and patterned fabric, shown from behind

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We’re pleased to share that we have additional copies of @simoneelizabethsaunders’ debut catalogue Encompass The Galaxy back in stock.
We had the honour of hosting Simone at the launch of Making Place: A Map of Black Calgary, alongside Cheryl Foggo, where we celebrated their work with @ucalgaryarts Calgary Institute of Humanities.

Huge shoutout to our friends at @contemporarycalgary for this beautiful publication and all the work that went into it!
Come by The Bookshop at Esker to grab your copy in person or online (Link in bio) if we run out - you can always get your copy at @contemporarycalgary C Shop !

Simone Elizabeth Saunders: Encompass the Galaxy is a powerful debut monograph chronicling the rise and resonance of one of Canada’s most compelling contemporary textile artists. Spanning 40 works from 2020 to 2023, this richly illustrated volume captures a pivotal moment in both global history and Saunders’ personal artistic evolution.

Published by Contemporary Calgary with generous support from The Flanagan Foundation, RBC, Dr. John Lacey CM, the Canada Council for the Arts, and other community partners, this book is a landmark contribution to the scholarship of Black Canadian art and a testament to Saunders’ enduring vision.

Read more about this publication online! bookshopatesker.com

#SimoneElizabethSaunders
#ContemporaryArtCanada
#ArtBooks
#TextileArt
#YYCArts Image of a promotional poster announcing the publication Encompass The Galaxy by Simone Elizabeth Saunders. The poster shows the book cover featuring a vibrant textile artwork with bold colors and a mythic figure. Text on the poster notes that limited copies are available at the Esker bookshop for $40 and includes a short description of the publication, logos from partner organizations, and a small inset image of someone viewing artwork.

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BTS: WLMagazine Shoot. Such a fun night hosting a Oaxacan-inspired cocktail party for @westernliving. The table was filled with layered textures and special pieces Aly collected in Oaxaca, the mezcal was flowing, and the laughs were plentiful. Even @eshpooopoo couldn’t resist joining the party.

#AVDInteriors #WesternLiving #OaxacaInspired #Entertaining #designmoments

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