February of 2023, my final topic in my Grade 12 Visual arts course was black history in Canada. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, I chose to create an abstract oil painting of a protest in progress.

The painting is in black and white with red paint splatters on the protester’s sign to represent the lives wrongfully taken. My reference for this painting was a photograph taken in Toronto during the protests. Being an artist based in Toronto, it was more meaningful knowing that my reference was from an actual protest taken place where I reside.

The “unfinished” faces in the background represent the unfinished business left from the government hence my artworks title, ‘Unfinished Business’.