Artist Spotlight: Capsule Community

by Mikaela Brewer for The 44 North, Senior Editor

Prints by Capsule Community

A few years ago, in the fall of 2024, I wrote a pantoum about the moon for the very first issue of Capsule, Stories & Starlight, published in December 2024:

Months before I wrote this poem, I’d followed Capsule’s Instagram page, a nourishing collection of posts to taste and savour rather than consume in one bite. I felt a sense of disruption—rest and ease—each time I encountered their work, even on a screen. In practice, I saw what social media could be. 

If “To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing,” as Raymond Williams says, then disruption has more than one necessary definition in the fight; it can replenish hope.

Capsule’s social media presence is a tapestry of literature, climate sustainability ethos, decolonial frameworks, artwork, and more. They turn each square into a patch, and their grid into a quilt rooted in storytelling that changes perception and lives. Their work influences popular culture and shifts public opinion, all stitched to a vital core: Stories as community. 

“As a creative consultancy and agency, deeply passionate about and focused on climate and sustainability, we are storytellers, creatives, activists and artists who leverage our creative skills and talents to boost climate narratives, encourage sustainable systems and outcomes, and help foster stronger connections to nature and the planet.” 

—Sabaah Choudhary & Misha Dhanoolal, Capsule Community Curators & Editors

Beyond Capsule’s digital quiltwork, the idea for a print publication brought together the threads of art, nature, and community. 

“We loved toying with the concept of leveraging our platform as a space to create and inspire, for our own unique voices and ethos, but also for our community. There are so many talented writers, thinkers, artists and storytellers in our communities with little or no access to platforms to tell their stories and share their ideas and work.”

Stories & Starlight, where my poem appeared, leaned on the themes of winter and the light we find at night. It featured several poems, art, and photography from members of the Capsule Community across North America. 

Sabah and Misha also design “Prints for Palestine,” featuring plants and words from the ever-brilliant James Baldwin and Mahmoud Darwish (two of my all-time favourite writers—check out “Untitled” by James Baldwin and “Think Of Others” by Mahmoud Darwish). 

Coming in August 2025, Capsule’s Summer zine, in collaboration with the Toronto Flower Market, will be available. You can pre-order it now. 

“Collaborating with the Toronto Flower Market was an ideal next step, and our way to truly walk the walk of creating a community zine; where spaces and ideas are shared, and different communities are connected, taking our smaller community circles and creating an even larger one. Community is the anecdote to scarcity, and we dream of a world where community, connection and art are a never-ending source of abundance.”

This issue blooms beyond the rebirth of past issues, reminiscent of summer daydreaming with the Earth’s sense of play, love, exhilaration, and creation. 

“In Mother Nature's maximalist season, we find so much inspiration for art and connection—to nature and each other.”

About Capsule Community

At Capsule, we believe that storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for influence and change. Stories change perception, lives, move popular culture and can shift public opinion. As a creative consultancy and agency, deeply passionate about and focused on climate and sustainability, we are storytellers, creatives, activists and artists who leverage our creative skills and talents to boost climate narratives, encourage sustainable systems and outcomes, and help foster stronger connections to nature and the planet.

—Capsule Community Website

Connect with Sabaah, Misha, and Capsule Community on their website and Instagram.