09/22/2026
Recently we had the pleasure of printing these stunning, challenging, and provocative photographs by Brendan Fernandes (π½π§ππ£πππ£ πππ§π£ππ£πππ¨), a Kenyan-Canadian artist based in Chicago. Brendan is exhibiting his work at Esker Foundation from September 19 to December 20, 2026. These photographs explore a variety of themes through performance.
For Brendan Fernandes, dance is political, celebratory, and collaborative, offering a language to proclaim visibility, assert identity, and to seek connection or joy. As a q***r, young newcomer to Toronto, dance gave Fernandes community, belonging, and a means of creative expression. After an injury ended his dance career prematurely, Fernandes turned to visual art, building a multidisciplinary practice that raises questions around migration, systemic injustice, colonial legacies, and the complexities of identity, often guided by his personal and familial history. Sitting at the intersection between dance and visual arts, Fernandesβ work is often, in his own words, βpart ballet, part q***r dance party, part political protest.β
