Congratulations! to Christina Leslie on being named one of the two finalists for this year’s Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Artist Prize 2026. All the best to Christina in her continued success in the growth of her artist practice and curatorial work.

Christina Leslie is an artist living and working in the Toronto area. Her lens-based practice delves into Black presence and subjectivity, identity, migration, marginalization, and her West Indian heritage. Her contemporary photographic works explore the intersections of history, memory, and race to create thought-provoking visual narratives.

McMaster Museum of Art (M(M)A) has recently acquired the series Pinhole Remix, 2020 for the museum collection. Her most recent series titled Pinhole Parishes was inspired by familial stories of Jamaica’s post-independence era. The images, created through improvised photographic tools and long exposures, evoke memory and presence.

In 2023, Leslie participated in M(M)A’s BIPOC Curatorial Mentorship Program, which has supported early career Black and Indigenous artists and curators through hands-on museum experience and professional development. Supported by McMaster University and Canada Heritage through the MAP program aimed to build capacity for transformation in the cultural sector by amplifying diverse perspectives and accelerating pathways into arts professional employment.

In addition to her artistic practice, Christina is an independent curator. She recently curated The Great Unseen (2025) at M(M)A. The exhibition was based on a curatorial framework and methodology evolved from her personal Caribbean heritage and diasporic perspectives that concentrated on Black, Caribbean, and diasporic artists in the M(M)A Collection and three invited contemporary artists. This brought artistic inclusion of all these artists from communities that have historically been excluded from dominant art historical paradigms.

Leslie is represented by Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.

Christina Leslie (Canadian, b. 1983)

Image Credits:

1&2) Pinhole Remix, 2020 (printed in 2025 except Stephanie, 2021)
Monique, Aundre, Caleb, Dad, Ro, Stephanie, Carol and Melissa
pigment prints on archival paper flush mounted to aluminum composite panels
21 x 16 inches each
Museum of Art Collection Trust, 2025

3) Pinhole 11 (2024) from Pinhole Parishes series by Christina Leslie

4) Artist photograph: Christina Leslie (2025) by Kwame Delfish.