Byron Armstrong and Ilene Sova of Armova Curatorial have put together a multimedia show titled When Angels Speak of Love. It’s based on a book by cultural critic bell hooks titled All About Love: Radical New Visions (2000).
The late bell hooks (1952–2021) was a groundbreaking author, feminist theorist, cultural critic, and educator. Her work focused on intersectionality with respect to race, gender, class, and love. All About Love: New Visions is still one of her most widely read publications.
In the last chapter of the book, hook talks about reimagining Western society’s concept of love as a “combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust”. Love is active, a kind of discipline, and a way of seeing the world that becomes a vital foundation for both justice and healing.
The group exhibit will be on view from June 12, 2026 through June 28, 2026, with a public opening reception on June 11.
Byron Armstrong & Ilene Sova: The Interview
Byron Armstrong and Ilene Sova lead Armova Curatorial, a collaborative curatorial practice. Marginalized artists are at the centre of their work, focusing on cultural memory, diaspora, and contemporary creative life in all its facets. They emphasize storytelling through their curatorial efforts at galleries, festivals, and public institutions, and look to create spaces where artists, audiences, and cultural workers can come together.
Both Byron and Ilene were familiar with the book long before they thought to put together the show.
“It wasn’t something that we had been thinking about for a length of time,” Armstrong explains. “I think it’s more about the world itself that had us thinking about this book. There’s wars, and rumours of wars, and the shifting global order that we’re living in,” he continues. “I think there’s a sense of anxiety.”
As the duo were considering what show to put together next, the book came to mind.
“I would say the book has a deep history with our partnership,” says Sova. She says she gave it to Byron on their third date. “I want you to read this book,” she told him.
She had found it transformational. It changed her views of both personal relationships and community in general.
When he got back to her on their next date, he’d already highlighted parts of the book to discuss.
“I had to prove that I actually read it,” Byron laughs.
Ilene calls it a foundational text. “We often refer to that book now that we’re parents as well.” She points out the notion of community when it comes to parenting, something that current North American society actively discourages.
“So I think when we were considering our next exhibition, we wanted to think about this idea of community and connection,” Sova says. It’s putting something positive into the zeitgeist, a way of considering how to live through difficult times.
The Artists
The show takes those ideas and puts them into visual forms. “We wanted to focus on exactly what we’re talking about. There’s all these layers of love,” Byron says. As he notes, the family unit is the first community that we all know. “That’s your very first experience of love.”
“With regards to instructions,” Armstrong says, “first of all we had to ask all of our artists if they’d read that.” The duo sent out passages from the book to prospective artists, and asked them to send work that related to the concepts described in some fashion.
“Some artists wanted to create new work based on those passages,” Ilene says. “We definitely curated in the sense that we already had a list of artists.” They drew on those they felt would come up with interesting and relevant work.
Featured artists include Natia Lemay, Veronica Dorsett, Eddion Whyms, Elyse Ricketts, Suzan (Destinie) Adélakun, Ojo Agi, Anthony Gebrehiwot aka TonyXTones, and Steven Schmid. Their work in painting, photography, sculpture, and textile arts interprets the theme in various ways, including self-love, healing and care, grief, friendship, domestic relationships, and collective liberation. They respond in their own medium to the idea that love is the path towards liberation from the systems that oppress, whether that be racism, sexism, classism, or simple loneliness.
Those quotes from the book will be posted on the walls of the gallery between the art works, so the audience can refer to them as well.
Selecting the pieces for the show was an individual process.
“Anthony Gebrehiwot, he is a photographer from Toronto,” Armstrong says. “We were talking about works we saw that spoke to the book.” Gebrehiwot was one of the first artists he and Sova thought of. “One of the images is two black men in an embrace. A lot of what about love deals with is patriarchy and the erasure of feelings. That embrace between two men shows the breaking down of that.”
Ilene mentions Elyse Ricketts. “I would say Elyse Ricketts, she’s an emerging artist,” Sova says. She explains that they like to put together the work of both established and early career artists in their shows, developing a kind of conversation between their pieces. “Elyse Ricketts work is all about that kind of intimacy.” It often revolves around the notion of feminine autonomy in relationships, and the fact that women still feel repressed when it comes to expressing their true sexual feelings and desires.
“Her work is about those very intimate and quiet moments in a women’s romantic life. Her work is really intimate in that way,” Ilene says.
Natia Lemay is an established artist. “Her work is about family dysfunction,” Sova says. hook’s book talks about the failure of the nuclear family as a concept, where small families are isolated in their homes, and no one outside the tight circle of parents and children is supposed to be involved. There’s no sharing of experiences, and no broader sense of community to draw on for support.
“Natia’s work is about what really happens when a family is not thriving,” she says. Children are neglected, or worse. “Her work is about those memories. She kind of sees them all as self portraits.”
Lack of community when it comes to parenting leads to issues that go beyond the nuclear family itself. “Everyone should be caring for children,” Ilene says. “We should be able to share wisdom with one another, and look out for each other.”
She points to capitalism and its constant demands as a root cause of that breakdown. “It has failed families, and it has failed children.”
“Capitalization, colonization — certainly, all those things intersect,” Armstrong says. “One of the thing that hooks is clear about is that you don’t own your children. It’s a foreign concept that causes problems.”
The Show
The exhibition includes a mix of media and approaches, a range of practices that revolve around the same idea.
“As a rule, we don’t curate based on a practice,” Armstrong explains. “It’s not a situation where we think, okay, we need eight painters. We need eight sculptors. We think about a concept and a theme, and we display [relevant works of art].”
He notes that many of the artists were surprised at the approach. They’ve gotten together with all of the contributing artists at a meet and greet.
“At our last show, one of the things I heard a lot was that this feels like community,” Byron says. Typically, artists work alone, and the contributors welcomed the community atmosphere. “Anything that brings people together as a community — that’s a success. That’s what we want people to walk away with.”
That goes for audiences as well.
“I feel like this show will be a really reflective space,” Ilene adds. She’s hoping audiences will be inspired to think about love in their own lives, and how they can create and transform their own notions of love and community.
“It’s even love of self,” she points out. Artist Ojo Agi’s work, for example, revolves around the idea of self-care.
“All of the pieces are very quiet and intimate,” Sova says.
The audience will be able to get involved in various ways. “I have to mention that MakeRoom is coming in as an activation partner,” Armstrong says. “We plan on also activating the space. We want to share the space with the community.”
MakeRoom Inc. will be organizing a range of activities. “Curatorial tours, discussions, artist talks. We hope to bring in [various] groups,” Ilene explains, “having people talking and not just looking at the art.”
Exhibition Details
The exhibition will be on view from June 12, 2026, through June 28, 2026, with an opening reception on June 11, 2026, at 2104 Dundas Street West, Toronto from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Throughout the exhibition, the public will be invited to participate in programming related to the exhibition theme through dedicated tours and an exciting activation in partnership with MakeRoom Inc.
- Opening/Vernissage: Thursday, June 11, 2026 – 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Exhibition Dates: Friday June 12th, 2026 to Sunday June 28th, 2026
- Location: 2104 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON
- Gallery Hours: Wednesday to Friday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) | Saturday & Sunday (12 p.m. to 4 p.m.)
Find more details about the artists and the show [HERE].
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