Connor Taylor

The DMG is thrilled to be working with Connor Taylor as the 2024/2025 Indigenous Youth Artist-in-Residence. Now in its seventh year, the program aims to support and deepen the practice of a young Indigenous artist, help with building relationships within the art community, and open up possibilities around post-secondary education.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

My name is Connor Taylor, first son, brother to three and uncle to one, I am a self-taught poet, borrowing inspirations from those around me and far from me, I take only from them their words, expressions, language and "meaning". I write from the perspective of being human in a world gone dark, I, Connor, desire to shine a beacon on the human condition, its struggle, its decay, its tumultuous breath, the weight of living in a world fading to black.

A great task put before me, I hope my time spent through this program, I may inspire and be inspired, cultivate my skills and character, I hope to engulf others in the passion I bear, the yearning to be heard and seen, the longing for a better world, the passion to create, to share with the world of one's own beauty. I hope to be a mentor and friend.

I am Cree, Moose Cree First Nations, Treaty 9, Moose Factory Ontario: a reservation on an island, it is my only birth place, my home, it is where me people are, my family and friends. To this day, I dream of that place, I yearn for the glory of what was, the love that once bathed the island, its people drenched in love; now, I do not know, I don't know what became of my people, my family, my home.

"Oh great dream of mine, grant me a star, grant me my fleeting wish; Oh beautiful dream of mine, please don't flee into the night sky, amongst the other fading Suns, promise me, promise you'll look to me as I gaze into nothing, when my wish is obscured, when my hopes and dreams slowly falter and dwindle; Come, Come to me, be my star in the abyss itself, leave only droplets of your essence as you swing across the sky, I will follow your trail, your light, your light I oh so miss."

ABOUT THE RESIDENCY

The Indigenous Youth Artist-in-Residence Program is a collaboration between the Doris McCarthy Gallery and 7th Generation Image Makers (a program of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto), supported by the Department of Arts, Culture & Media at U of T Scarborough. The program aims to support the practice of a young Indigenous artist by offering paid studio time, professional development opportunities, and mentorship by Doris McCarthy Gallery staff, U of T Scarborough faculty and professional artists, as well as the opportunity to audit a course at the University of Toronto Scarborough and access other University resources (facilities, events, staff & faculty).