Robyn Martelly

Robyn Martelly is from Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia, which is located in Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island). Robyn is an artist, contributing author, poet, and a freelance writer. Some of her work has appeared in LOVE (Leave Out Violence) Newsletter, Teens Now Talk Magazine, Understorey Magazine, Montréal Writes an Online Literary Magazine, the Cape Breton Post, CBRM ConnectArts, CBC Information Morning Cape Breton, Wandering Autumn Magazine and ‘Magine: Unama’ki/ Cape Breton’s Literary Magazine.

Robyn has 15+ years experience creating art and writing poetry, her art and writing is inspired by her culture, community, and social issues.

The (Re)Emergence of Activism: Time's Up

Spotlight Project

Multi-disciplinary artist Robyn Martelly writes new poetry in response to this year’s Lumière theme (Re)Emergence.

Robyn’s new work is inspired by social issues that re-emerged during the pandemic. Worldwide lockdowns forced separation and isolation, pushing social justice issues to the forefront internationally, motivating people around the world to re-emerge, take a stand and fight for equality.

Lumiere Arts Festival 2024 // The Art of Caring

Lumiere Arts Festival invites artists and community members to reflect on the concept of care.

In a polarized landscape, care can lap like a brook, or pound like large waves crashing ashore. To care is to tend, to root, to rebel, to share and to endure. This year, the festival is encouraging artists to submit works rooted in solidarity, with community building as resistance, that explores the need to care for ourselves, others, and the earth, both locally and globally. The Lumiere Arts Festival makes space for joy, contemporary art, and meaningful dialogue.

Land Acknowledgement

Lumière Arts Festival, on behalf of the board, the artists, and the communities we represent, acknowledges that we work, live and play in the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people, in Unama’ki Cape Breton, who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial.

We are grateful not only for the strong and ongoing stewardship of these lands we call home, but also for the stories, music, and art that Mi’kmaq people continue to create and share, carrying ancestral voices, sacred teachings, and legacies of interconnectedness and resilience forward into the present and on to the future.

We aspire to reflect that sense of connection between past and present in our festival. We are inspired by L’nu artists to foster connection and self-reflection in our work. We will work to ensure that art is accessible, inclusive, and integrated into public spaces so that we can share our collective stories, recognizing the challenges of our past and imagining brighter futures.

We are all Treaty people.