A striking visual saga in linocuts of the life of John Daddy' Hall, a man of Mohawk and African-American descent who survived war, capture and slavery to become a pillar of the community in nineteenth-century Owen Sound, Ontario.
Born of a Mohawk father and an escaped-slave mother, John ‘Daddy’ Hall was a product of not one but two oppressed peoples. His gripping story is the stuff of legends—of the War of 1812, of the harsh realities slavery and of triumph in the face of adversity. Over the course of his 117-year life, Hall identified as a freeman, a scout for the British under Chief Tecumseh, a captured slave, an escapee on the Underground Railroad, a town crier in Owen Sound, Ontario, a husband and, as his nickname aptly suggests, father to an impressive number of children.
Tony Miller is a Canadian painter, sculptor and printmaker. Born and raised in Owen Sound, his experiences facing racism and poverty instilled in him a fascination with his African roots. His art reflects his appreciation of the beauty of many cultures and seeks to explore the effects of past and present on the human race.