Donnique Williams (she/her) is a black poet, collage and spoken word artist. She creates work with a great focus on vulnerability, seeking to reimagine the experiences of familial disappointment, aspiration, fear, and insecurity. Her work awakens the reader to examine their own self-image, dreams, legacies, and struggles of faith. 

Her passion for community engagement has inspired her to create successful outreach events all over Waterloo Region, record-breaking fundraising campaigns, and an award-winning Social Venture Partners’ pitch. From writing vulnerable poetry and spinning marketing plates to advocating for affordable housing, Donnique hopes to cultivate a just, more hopeful world.

The artwork Donnique Williams has contributed to this collection is called Rest in Peonies

Mo Thunder (They/Them/Theirs) is Onkwehonwe [Onyota’a:ka with family ties to Oneida Nation of the Thames x Aamjiwnaang First Nation] and French-Canadian. They’re a non-binary, neuroemergent artist x visual storyteller from a small town along the St. Clair River and are currently based on One Dish One Spoon Territory x T’karonto (Toronto).

The artwork Mo Thunder has contributed to this collection is called Truth.

janet romero-leiva is a queer feminist latinx visual artist and writer whose work explores immigrant displacement, denied indigeneity, and the experience of living between the south and the north, between spanish and english, between memory and truth.

The artwork janet romero-leiva has contributed to this collection is called “delightful you.”

Brescia Nember Reid has a long-standing dedication to reproductive justice and trauma-informed care, and is proud to be a welcoming healthcare provider for LGBTQ2S families. Brescia is a queer settler Artist and Birthworker based in Toronto/Tkaronto. Working in paper cut out illustration and shadow puppetry, Brescia's work explores themes such as life/death, birth/reproductive justice, trauma/healing, bodies/embodiment & plant friends. Brescia is a founding member of Drawing With Knives Shadow Puppetry co. and works a busy schedule in healthcare.

The artwork Brescia Nember Reid has contributed to this collection is called Milkweed Mural.

Alejandra Higuera is a multidisciplinary, visual storyteller working in video, animation, projection, and illustration. Her work focuses on themes of migration, feminism, memory, grief, and ritual by centering the intricate stories of immigrant, queer, and BIPOC resilience and exploring how healing leads us to re-imaging ourselves.  She is committed to creating spaces for dialogue about the complexities of our experiences and that celebrate our differences. As a Latinx artist, Alejandra supports our ever-changing identities, resisting homogenization through a decolonizing lens.

The artwork Alejandra Higuera has contributed to this collection is called A Moment to Heal.

Chief Lady Bird is a Chippewa and Potawatomi artist from Rama First Nation and Moosedeer Point First Nation, who is currently based in Rama. Her art practice is continuously shapeshifting, and is always heavily influenced by her passion for empowering and uplifting Indigenous folks through the subversion of colonial narratives.

The artwork Chief Lady Bird has contributed to this collection is called Naandwi’aan.