Gary Weekes’ Fine Art Photography Exhibitions celebrate his Black identity in Canada, his upbringing in the UK, his 10 years in the USA, and his ever-changing role as a father to three amazing young women. He stands proudly as a creative individual who does not follow the stereotypical boundaries placed on Black artists. His art reflects himself, his likes, dislikes, loves, hates, and ultimately his ability (or inability) to initiate dialogue. In 2022, Gary became the first Black NB artist to have a solo show at the prestigious Beaverbrook Art Gallery, where one of his works was purchased, becoming part of their Permanent Collection. In 2023, Gary received the CBC Black Changemaker Award for his community work. 

Gary has now moved into short documentary filmmaking with cinematography and directorial credits added to his increasing list of accomplishments. 

Currently, Gary’s new solo exhibition “Trayces” is on display at the UNB Art Centre in Fredericton until March 27, 2026. 

Gary is represented by Gallery on Queen.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what sparked your interest in photography.

I was born in England 60 years ago and lived there until I was 14. Then I emigrated with my family to America, and we moved to the Bronx in New York City. After 10 years, I returned to England, met the mother of my three incredible daughters (a Canadian), and we decided to move to New Brunswick, Canada. It was where her parents lived, and a short drive to NYC to my family.   

I've always been interested in the arts. I've always drawn, scribbling on desks and eventually drawing my own comic books, progressing to drawing album covers on the backs of jackets, which was the craze. 

In high school, I took photography as an elective. I quickly lost patience with waiting for paint to dry, picked up a camera, and never looked back. So, I've been taking pictures, not seriously, with a camera since I was 16.

What inspires or excites you in your work?

The challenges inspire me when I'm working. Meeting new people, creating new work, especially building new bodies of work. Trying to push the craft forward is what really excites me because photography itself has only been around for approximately 200 years.

There are always new ways of looking at things. Even though the technology remains the same and we all use similar tools, we can start experimenting with ways to supplement those tools and create new forms of self-expression.

I'm constantly thinking about things to do and images I want to create. I stopped looking at other photographers’ images as much and started looking “within” for what I consider inspiring. My inspiration comes in many different shapes and forms.

Can you describe your creative process, from idea to finished work? Can you explain how a photo comes to life?

My process is twofold. The first part is the actual image-taking, which can come from anything or everything—people, inanimate objects, animal skulls, insects, ethereal media such as oil and water. I’ve done things like blowing air through tubes in a fish tank to capture bubbles or using underwater or fiber-optic lights to create drama and utilize the different qualities of light.

My second part is more sculptural, where the work is created to be displayed. My approach is always “photography first”, but when I create, I create an object that the work then intertwines with, so that the object and the photograph become one form.

I never liked it when people took my pictures out of the frame I put them in, so I stopped using glass and started working with atypical materials. Now I print on metal, fabric, clear vinyl, and canvas, and all these materials will end up in the final work, ultimately complementing the images I’ve taken.

As for how a photo comes to life--when I'm working with people in a documentary style, I try to become invisible as quickly as possible, so they're natural around me. With portraits, there's tangible communication, a dialogue/interplay between the sitter and myself.

Your portfolio includes a range of styles and genres from fine art to commercial work. Is there an area or a genre that brings you the most joy or reward, and why?

I treat my commercial work and my fine artwork with equal respect. I may not keep or adore the commercial work as much after the fact, but while doing it, I use the same care and attention as I would in my own work.

I always attempt to push the craft of my fine art a little bit further, while the commercial work is “much safer” and meets the client's needs.

Commercial work has taken me to places I would not have normally gone. If I did that with fine art, gaining access to certain spaces could take years. Whereas if the client invites me, I'm in with just one phone call.

What is your favorite piece of photography equipment that you can't live without?

There's no single piece anymore. I've reached a point in my life where the equipment is just a means to an end, essentially, tools. In the fine art realm, my equipment (tools) change depending on the story I want to tell.

But thinking back to my commercial days, my favourite piece of equipment was the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro close-up lens. I used it for portraits, pets, and inanimate objects. It was my go-to lens. 

How has your personal experience or upbringing influenced your work?

Oh, that's a big one because, well, I hate to talk about race, but race is a big thing. When I started 30, 40 years ago, there weren't that many Black people in the industry. And so, as far as being hired to do certain jobs, it was fortunate that I was able to cross some boundaries and get hired for what some would consider to be “Big Jobs”, but not as big as I felt I merited at the time.

My upbringing was one where I would never shy away from anything. If I wanted to do something, I would be hyper-focused and get it done. If there was a door that needed to be kicked down, I would normally try to kick it down, or at least knock hard on it until they let me in.

What stories or themes are you particularly interested in exploring?

When it comes to stories and themes, I have no set agenda, but I've got interesting stories in mind. One of the stories I’m working on now is called “Still Here”. It’s about New Brunswick Black families. It’s a project I'm co-authoring with a couple of friends, Dr. Mary McCarthy-Brandt and her son Thandiwe McCarthy. It was Thandiwe's idea, and we just expanded upon it.

I've always wanted to shoot documentary in the style of photographers W Eugene Smith or Gordon Parks and follow a story through from beginning to end. I'm a people person, and I love people stories. So, I want to do a story where I can go to some place and wander the streets of a town, city, or country and photograph people along the way. It is a sort of street photography, but slightly different, which is the way I like to do things.

And next, I want to work on a series of nudes, but again, I'm trying to figure out the best way to express that in my own bespoke style. I'm always looking for originality. I'm always looking to push my craft forward by being as unique as possible, while retaining the traits of a technically skilled photographer, rather than becoming a novelty.

Can you describe a photo or photo series that you're particularly proud of and why?

So, the photo series I'm particularly proud of was the first one I decided to go all out on. That was the boxing series. I photographed those images toward the end of COVID. My next-door neighbor (David Furneaux), who's a boxing coach and fellow Englishman, let me visit his gym when it was just reopening. I hadn't done anything meaningful with the camera at that time for maybe ten months.

That was the first time I'd put into practice everything I'd always wanted to do. I had subjects, and I was shooting in a documentary style. I went back three or four times over two months, photographing them in different ways. One day, I did strict portraiture, which meant setting up a small studio in a corner of the gym. Another day, I did fly-on-the-wall shots, following the coach, David, as he did his pad work.

But then, when it came to putting it together, that's when I found my footing. I had printed the images on canvas and spent the next month cutting fabric, sewing, and gluing it together using felt, grommets, and rope to make these images look as if they'd been cut from the floor of a boxing ring.  

I think I achieved it quite successfully because the work was accepted for inclusion in the reopening of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, shown alongside another of my heroes, Larry Fink, a photographer who had done similar boxing work and was a world-famous photographer. 

My 2022 exhibition was called "Larry Fink versus Gary Weekes: The Boxing Portfolios," with my work being in one corner of the gallery, while his images were in the other, creating the illusion that we were pitted against one another… Art imitates life. 

The feeling was incredible! That feeling that one gets from the camera and the consequential show might only happen a few times in a photographer’s life…if you’re fortunate.

How do you handle creative blocks or stay inspired?

Well, I don't suffer from creative blocks. I suffer from moments when I don't want to do something the way I've done it before, but I'm always thinking of things to do. I'm always thinking of two or three projects at a time.

Right now, I've got a set of clocks. I started collecting clocks for some reason, because I felt I wanted to change their faces to images. So far, I've got about 20 clocks that I've picked up from thrift shops, all ticking away downstairs in my basement, and now I'm trying to figure out what the idea will be. 

What has been your biggest success and or biggest mistake in your journey as an artist, and how did you grow or learn from that?

My biggest success was realizing that whatever I do, I do for me. Being commissioned to do work for other people is great, but even then, I’m still photographing the pictures I would like to see. Realizing that early, when I was first coming into photography, was important to me. As soon as I started photographing real people with real emotion and a real connection with the viewer, things started to click.

My biggest disappointments come from not being tunnel-visioned enough. I am easily distracted, and I kept moving to new places and having to start over.

I worked as a photographer at a huge photo studio in downtown New York for three or four years, but then I wanted to go back to England, so I stopped what I was doing, even though I was starting to get a name for myself, and headed back “Across the Pond”.

In England, I met a Canadian woman, got married, and had kids. Again, I was starting to build a little career as a photographer, working part-time, shooting, and working with some incredible clients. Then I stopped because we decided to return to her home in New Brunswick, Canada, where I had to start, yet again, from the ground floor without any sort of network to aid or assist me. 

Although I’m very happy where I am, I wonder how much more I would have had if I had just stayed in New York, stayed in England, or started this adventure in Canada about 10 years earlier.

How has living and working in New Brunswick helped and or inspired you on your journey?

New Brunswick has eliminated distractions.

In New York, there are tons of distractions. Friends, family, businesses, entertainment, you name it, there are distractions. If you wanted to switch off and go somewhere, you would find something to do very easily. The same goes for London.

But in New Brunswick, especially during the winter months, I'm home just thinking of ideas for the next shoot or the next adventure. New Brunswick has given me the time to focus, or the ability to focus, because I don't have as many distractions around me.

How has your journey as an artist evolved over time? Were there key moments or experiences that shaped how you work and create today?

My journey as a photographer has been slow and steady. Slow and steady has won the race for me. I've photographed everything from inanimate objects to pets to people to buildings to anything else you can think of. If they needed an image of it, I've been there to take that image.

As for key moments or experiences, one was definitely when I worked at the Tate Modern, photographing the artists they would commission to show in their beautiful building. I would wonder how I got there because I was a young photographer. I wanted to do magazine work, but I didn't do much of it back then. 

The thing about me as a photographer is that the highs aren't that high, and the lows aren't that low. That's part of my personality. If there's something that's big, and I'm photographing, like when I came to Fredericton and worked in the Lieutenant Governor's mansion or in Ottawa, that was a big thing, but it was just another thing for me to do. And so, the highs have never been that incredibly high.

Describe what you are most proud of in your career.

Just having the work known and recognized is what I'm most proud of. That's what I've always wanted.

One thing that comes to mind, that I have mixed feelings about, is that I'm pretty sure it's official that I'm the first Black Solo Artist to have an art show at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in its then 62-year history. 

But always I'm saying to myself, “Why am I the first?”

Because I've only been here for 20 years, and there've been artists in the province for decades, even centuries. I'm most proud of that because it's something that will open a few doors for others to follow, but I'm not immensely proud because I shouldn't have been the first.

What would your dream project look like?

Freedom. Doing whatever I wanted without worrying about budgets.

My dream project is revisiting my life — my life in America, in New York, in the Bronx — and telling that story as I saw it when I first visited. It also includes revisiting my life in England, where I returned as a 24-year-old, and how I saw it back then. And then my family's roots in Barbados in the West Indies, and finding ways to tell that story.

The goal of this project will be to find my way home in three different places and tell the stories that emerge in each.

What advice would you give to an emerging photographer?

I would say to emerging photographers: work hard. Be professional and enjoy every moment that comes your way.

There will be times when it won't work out for you, but there will also be times when it works out tremendously. If someone asks you to do something you don't want to do, stick to your guns and don't do it. Sometimes doing things just for the dollar leaves you with an icky feeling that can affect other opportunities.

Knuckle down and become business-minded. I'm fighting against this so much, and it's unreal that I put so much effort into not being a businessman when it's so easy to become one. Make a living and enjoy it. You need to find a way to have a healthy relationship with money.