Curious about local art? We are too!

When it comes to the arts, Nova Scotia is spoiled for talent, and we're pleased to feature local art in many of our Library spaces.

From The Sunroom at Central Library to art displayed in our branches, we want to give local artists space to connect with our community and share their vision.

Current exhibits

The Sunroom at Central Library

On display August 23 through October 3, 2026

Swallowed Whole by Rebecca Fisk

Swallowed Whole is a provocative self-portrait series that confronts the intersection of race, food, and cultural stereotype. Through striking compositions, monochromatic skin tones, and vivid symbolism, these works explore how food—particularly fast food and sweets—has been weaponized, exoticized, and commodified in ways that often reduce racialized bodies to caricature or consumption.

Using exaggerated hand gestures, confrontational gazes, and visual codes like the KFC bucket or licorice candies, this series challenges viewers to reflect on how race is packaged, consumed, and digested in both literal and metaphorical ways.

Food is never just food. It is culture, survival, memory—but also stereotype. This body of work questions how Black and racialized identities are flattened through media imagery and cultural shorthand, particularly around food tropes. The greasy drumstick. The "sweet" girl. The offering hand. These recurring elements evoke loaded narratives: from minstrelsy to welfare tropes to colonial fantasies.

By painting the skin tones in grayscale, the works resist immediate racial categorization, forcing the viewer to confront the signs and symbols that create racial meaning. Goggles, oversized hands, and theatrical gestures call attention to performance—how racial identity is often constructed for the consumption of others.

Each piece speaks to how the simple act of eating becomes political when the body consuming is marked by race.

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Alderney Gate Public Library

Information on next display coming soon.

Captain William Spry Public Library

On display September 2026

AFROFUTURE by Prince Churchill 

AFROFUTURE is a visual exploration of Black identity, imagination, and possibility. Through bold colour, portraiture, symbolism, and futuristic elements, Prince Churchill reimagines Black people not only through the histories they come from, but through the futures they have the power to create. 

The series asks us to imagine beyond what already exists, creating space for Black joy, creativity, identity, and possibility in worlds yet to come. 

 Prince Churchill is a Haitian Canadian multidisciplinary artist, designer, and creative director based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Adopted from Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, Prince's experiences with identity, belonging, culture, and family have become important influences throughout his creative practice. 

Working across painting, murals, design, mixed media, and public art, his work often explores Black identity and the possibilities of imagining ourselves beyond the circumstances we inherit. Through bold colour, storytelling, and experimentation, Prince creates work that invites people to see themselves, their communities, and their futures differently. 

Cole Harbour Public Library

Information on next display coming soon.

J.D. Shatford Memorial Public Library

On display September 2026

Art by Deborah Fleming

"I have been making art most of my life. I was an art teacher for many wonderful years with children, teens and young adults. I have lived and worked in British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia, happiest by the ocean. Living in Canada is such a precious thing, and most of my art is inspired by aspects of our country."

"I was a stained glass artist for many years, building autonomous and installed works for shows or for commission. My largest piece was 140 sq. ft. for the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Grand Prairie, Alberta in 1984. A feminist set of 13 small panels, “The Illuminated Series,” travelled to galleries, events, homes, and meadows, 1986-1990s."

"Mood and meaning are my reasons for making work. Light, lines, built forms and natural spaces are how I explore these through glass, paint and drawing materials. I get involved with an idea and work, often on several pieces, on a theme. For example, a recent series about birds, migration and cataclysm was titled ‘Ripening Cycles, Migrating Through Time, Connecting the First to the Future’. More recently, I have been thinking about how hope and no hope are understood, invoked in the images we make."

"I appreciate my membership in the Aspotogan Arts and Crafts and have been showing with them for about 20 years. I have been very pleased to show at J.D. Shatford Memorial Public Library for a month each year for the past several years. My wonderful parents were both plein-air painters. My spouse and I have resided in the St. Margaret’s Bay area since 1988.  Our son is a musician and, though he spends a good part of the year touring, he always comes back for some part of the summer in Hubbards."

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Keshen Goodman Public Library

Information on next display coming soon.

Musquodoboit Harbour Public Library

Information on next display coming soon.

Sackville Public Library

Information on next display coming soon.

Tantallon Public Library

Information on next display coming soon.

Woodlawn Public Library

On display August through October, 2026

Art by Lisa Richard

Lisa Richard is a successful artist who lives in Dartmouth, NS. Lisa has been painting for the past number of years, inspired by her late grandfather, Lawrence McAvoy, who was a well-known Halifax artist. Lisa works in both acrylic and watercolours. She has participated in several local art shows and is a member of Dartmouth Visual Arts and Creative Spirit East. 

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