Trayces and Tributes: Celebrating Black Identity

Exhibition opening takes place Jan. 23 at 5 p.m. and runs through March 27, 2026.

Trayces, an exhibition by Gary Weekes, is a striking visual narrative exploring Black skin, memory and cultural lineage.

Through portraits crafted with transparent vinyl and aluminum baking trays, the exhibition draws inspiration from West African scarification traditions to examine identity, beauty and the marks we carry.

Attendees will also be introduced to his new in-progress body of work tentatively titled Secret Codes. This exhibition will include ambient electronic music by Mike Lukaszuk (department of culture and media studies).

UNB Art Centre recognizes Black History Month with Rediscovering the Roots of Black New Brunswickers. This special ongoing research project engages UNB students and members of the Black community in bringing to light those Black New Brunswickers who have made a significant contribution to shaping contemporary New Brunswick in their fight for freedom and equality.

The UNB Art Centre wishes to acknowledge the work done by UNB students who have contributed to the research for Rediscovering the Roots of Black New Brunswickers: Carlie Manners (2019-20), Emma Allen (2020-21), Harrison Dressler (2021-22), Brad Ackerson (2022-23) and Savannah Thomas (2024-25).

This project also relies on the knowledge and expertise of Mary McCarthy-Brandt, an educator, advocate and Elder in New Brunswick's Black community as well as Jennifer Dow, a researcher and genealogist who is uncovering their stories.

The hard work and dedication of these people have allowed the UNB Art Centre to discover and honour the people who have helped to shape contemporary New Brunswick in their fight for freedom and equality.

During Black History Month, banners featuring the portraits of these outstanding individuals are on display on the streets of downtown Fredericton.

10th Annual Black History Month Lecture

Join us for an inspiring evening featuring: Dr. Nicholas R. Jones (Yale) “Cervantine Blackness as an Ethics of Care”

In its discussion of Nicholas R. Jones's latest book, Cervantine Blackness, this lecture takes its audience on a journey that explores Miguel de Cervantes's portrayal of Black Africans and sub-Saharan Africa, challenging entrenched paradigms and inviting a re-evaluation of the complexities of racialized Blackness and Black social life in Cervantes's literary corpus.

By recalibrating the focus from conventional narratives of "agency" and "resistance" to a nuanced understanding of Black subjects within Cervantes's works, Jones offers a systematic deconstruction of long-standing prejudices that seeks to forge new paths in literary and cultural criticism.

Characterized as a primer for Black Study in Early Modern Studies, the intellectual work operating throughout Cervantine Blackness underscores how Jones himself prompts us to rethink larger questions of care, ethics and freedom in contemporary discourse.
Get your free Open Access version of Cervantine Blackness.

Nicholas R. Jones, a tenured professor at Yale University, is the former King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center’s Scholar-in-Residence at New York University (2021-2022).

Jones’s latest single-authored book, Cervantine Blackness (Penn State UP, Nov 2024), presents a searing work of literary criticism and political debate that speaks to specialists and nonspecialists alike—anyone with a serious interest in Cervantes’s work who takes seriously a critical reckoning with the cultural, historical and literary legacies of agency, antiblackness and refusal within the Iberian Peninsula and the global reaches of its empire.

Additionally, among his numerous publications, Jones authored the award-winning book Staging Habla de Negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain (Penn State, May 2019) and has guest edited two monographic-length special issues on Black Performance, Critical Black Studies, and Black Temporalities in sub-Saharan Africa featured in the Bulletin of the Comediantes and La corónica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, & Cultures.

He has published two major works: The Routledge Companion to Race in Early Modern Artistic, Material, and Visual Production (May 2025), co-edited with Christina H. Lee and Dominique E. Polanco, and The Renaissance Reader: Beyoncé & Black Queer Popular Culture (Routledge) with Kinitra D. Brooks.

Artist talk with Gary Weekes

Join artist Gary Weekes for an in-depth conversation about the making of Trayces. Discover the creative inspirations behind the work, the photographic and sculptural processes involved, and the cultural influences that shaped this series. This session creates space for dialogue about representation, artistry and the stories carried through Black skin.

• Feb. 5 | 5 - 7 p.m. | Snow date: Feb. 6 | 5 - 7 p.m.
• UNB Art Centre, East & West Galleries, Memorial Hall
• Register now

About the artist

Fredericton-based photographer Gary Weekes works across genres with a focus on quality and sensitivity, shaped by years in London and New York. His fine art practice centers on collaborative storytelling, leading to a historic 2022 solo exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, which later acquired his work. He has been recognized as a byblacks.com People’s Choice Visual Artist of the Year and a CBC 2023 Black Changemaker.

Expanding into short documentary film, Gary is developing Still Here: Preserving Our Legacy, a multi-year project culminating in a book and major exhibition in July 2026. Guided by the belief that everything carries a resonant “pulse,” he works to reveal beauty that is often overlooked.

UNB Black Researcher Showcase

This event is hosted by the Office of Vice President Research, in partnership with Human Rights & Equity Office. It consists of a series of short presentations from Black researchers at UNB, including graduate and undergraduate students and faculty members followed by a networking reception. The reception will feature digital poster displays as well as an opportunity to chat with our presenters and connect with the UNB research community.

• In-Person: Harriet Irving Library (HIL) Research Commons Event Space (Room 318), 10 a.m. to noon.
• Virtual: Teams link provided on registration.
• Networking reception to follow (in-person only): HIL Data Visualization Lab (Room 320D), noon to 2 p.m.

This showcase is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate the excellence of Black scholarship at UNB, to gather the UNB research community and to foster connections. This event also marks both Black History Month and the one-year anniversary of UNB signing the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education.

Finally, as part of a month-long exhibition, posters will be displayed again on Feb. 18 and Feb. 25, noon to 2 p.m. in the HIL Data Visualization Lab (room 320D). Guests are invited to drop by and learn more about some of the exciting work of Black researchers at UNB.