On the Matter of Memory
The Drawings of Harold Cromwell
Born in 1919 in the Black community of Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Harold Cromwell was a descendant of the Black Loyalists who settled in the area in 1783. He was also a prolific folk artist with an acute talent for observation. His meticulous, textured pen and ink illustrations — drawn on everything from cupboard doors and scraps of paper to “Royal Chinet” paper plates — capture his responses to the experience growing up in rural Nova Scotia. For over 50 years, he depicted scenes from his Depression-era childhood, everyday life in a rural community in early twentieth century Nova Scotia, and people at work – picking apples, digging clams, gathering wood, or farming.
Cromwell’s monochromatic ballpoint pen drawings stand in stark contrast to some of the more famous names in Nova Scotian folk art. Ranging from richly rendered landscapes to social scenes full of sometimes comic detail, his drawings tell “real stories” about rural life in Black Nova Scotia and the cultural, economic, and technological shifts that he experienced during his lifetime.
Harold Cromwell (1919-2008), descended from Black Loyalists who settled in Weymouth Falls in 1783, worked from a young age at his uncle’s farm and later at the Goodwin Hotel. During WWII, he served in England supporting soldiers with combat fatigue. While he was recovering from wounds at Debert Military Hospital, nurses gave him drawing materials, sparking a lifelong passion. Working primarily with the humble materials of pencil and ball-point pen on plain white paper or wood, Cromwell was neither a painter nor a carver. For over 50 years, Cromwell, through his drawings, depicted memories, stories, and anecdotes of daily life, especially in the African Nova Scotian community of Weymouth Falls; his art looked back to an idealized Nova Scotian past, one of close-knit community and family life.
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Fabiyino Germain-Bajowa (she/her) is a Nigerian-Canadian writer, curator, and interdisciplinary artist from Thadinadonnih (Guelph), now based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). With a focus on community-based art, her work often explores Afro-diasporic archives of thought inherited through oral history, food traditions, and acts of care. By centering the lived experiences of Black artists, she engages land-based networks of knowledge to build cultural literacy and uplift contemporary Black artistic practices. She earned her BFA in Criticism and Curatorial Practice from OCAD University and has curated programs such as Tell the Body (Vtape, Toronto), The Suppa Club (with Temple Marucci-Campbell, Toronto), Down Home (Dalhousie Art Gallery, 2025), and Blacklight (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2025). Currently, she is the TD Curatorial Fellow at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
Living and working in Mi’kma’ki, Michael McCormack is an Assistant Curator at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. His curatorial practice is rooted in a deep interest in alternative and unconventional exhibition spaces and is informed by his practice as an intermedia artist. McCormack has written for publications and worked with institutions across Canada, including Eyelevel Gallery, Nocturne: Art at Night, Flotilla Atlantic, the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, and Visual Arts News. He occasionally works as a mentor and sessional instructor through NSCAD University, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Centre for Art Tapes and the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture.
