Man Machine Poem Collection

Courage For Gord is honoured to be collaborating with two incredible artists, Izzy Camilleri and Richard Beland.

Izzy Camilleri

As one of Canada’s leading innovative and celebrated fashion designers, Izzy Camilleri has made a name for herself designing clothing for national and international clients for over 32 years. Izzy has built a reputation by creating pieces that are provocative yet refined, sophisticated and always wearable. Her designs have been featured in publications from Italian Vogue, to Instyle and the highly influential fashionista.com, and worn by A–Listers such as Angelina Jolie, Mark Walberg, Meryl Streep and David Bowie.

Numerous artists have worn incredible Izzy Camilleri custom designs on the stage, but none more iconic than the metallic suits worn by Gord Downie during the historic Man Machine Poem Tour in 2016. Izzy is based in Toronto and continues to create pieces that provoke thought and push boundaries. For more on Izzy, check our her website here.

Richard Beland

Richard Beland is a music photographer. His extensive body of work, dating back to 1986, includes performance photographs as well as studio portraits. 

Richard first saw the Tragically Hip perform in support of Road Apples in 1991. However, his first bonafide opportunity to photograph the band came about in Europe at the Torhout-Werchter Music Festival in Belgium, during the Summer of 1993, when the band was touring behind the Fully Completely album. Richard had been given access to shoot all of the bands on the bill, including Metallica, the Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz, Sonic Youth, Neil Young, and The Tragically Hip. The rest is history.

Richard has photographed the Tragically Hip over 150 times, including the performance at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Other high points included photographing the album art work for In Violet Light, earning a Juno nomination for the photographic contribution to Gord Downie's solo album Battle of the Nudes, and hosting a career retrospective exhibit of The Tragically Hip entitled "Colour of the Night". 

For more on Richard, check out his website here and follow along on Instagram here.

Man Machine Poem Collection