Artist Spotlight: Erika Flores (she/her)
- Mikaela Brewer
- Jun 8
- 9 min read
by Mikaela Brewer for The 44 North
“As someone who has always been a big advocate of grassroots initiatives, seeing the worlds of art, sport, community, advocacy, and infrastructure all in one impactful project has always been something I’ve actively sought. To be the artist to work on a project that means so much to an historically underserved community is a privilege I don’t take lightly.”
When I first came across Erika’s work, while attending Canada’s first ever WNBA game in 2023, I was on the cusp of dipping my fingertips into basketball again after years away. I couldn’t name this at the time, but I was craving ways to re-ground my love of the sport—to heal my tattered relationship with it after retiring so abruptly in 2020. It felt akin to grief—to severing full-body connections with a home, culture, language, and art practice. I filled the cavity in my heartspace not only by picking up a basketball again, but by reorienting to it artistically.
Erika’s work was a portal—a gate that opened when I needed it most. And I’m not the only one.
It feels strange thinking of sport as art; I was taught to see it scientifically, mathematically—calculating—where the gym is ‘the lab.’ I don’t believe these elements/metaphors are baseless, by any means, but they’re incomplete alone.
Erika (she/her) is a self-taught Toronto illustrator, poet, and multimedia artist. She’s best known for using diverse mediums such as digital illustration, acrylic glass paintings, and engravings. When I first reached out to ask her about this piece, we further connected through her poetry (two of my favourites are: Shapes & Forms of Resistance and By A Child of Immigrants).
As the proud daughter of Filipino immigrants—who are huge basketball fans—Erika’s passionate and creative storytelling work beautifully braids together her values, heritage, and culture. Her art breathes life into patterns and palettes of colours—families of colours—to empower youth, queer communities, and all who’ve been marginalized or displaced from home and family. I’m reminded of Rupi Kaur’s words, “It is a blessing / to be the color of earth / do you know how often / flowers confuse me for home?” Her artwork extends the hand of home—both a reflection and an invitation.
Witnessing athleticism and sport as art, as Erika does, amplifies how they’re appreciated by fans and crafted by athletes. Sport reaches a new wavelength of light when captured by a parallel artform, such as painting. Perhaps this practice truly is the synergistic poetry of our world: when two art forms come together to show us something we wouldn’t have been able to see without the portal of an artist’s hand.
Covered by Yahoo News, Global News, CBC, MSN, and AInvest, one of the most rejuvenating examples of this is Erika’s collaboration with the WNBA, Maybelline New York, and Buckets & Borders. In the Jane and Finch neighbourhood, Oakdale Community Centre was refurbished with Erika’s brilliant artwork alongside new nets, equipment, a youth basketball clinic, and a mental health training session developed with Kids Help Phone. A central part of feeling safe to grow—learn, play, explore, and develop self confidence—is feeling valued and seen. Erika’s artwork—thoughtfully reflective of the community and radiant expansion of women’s basketball—catalyzes this alongside the facility’s upgrades, together amplifying the power of carefully designed and managed third spaces that bolster community mental health and collective care. Now, Oakdale Community Centre is not only a lab for learning skills, but a studio for creative expression. In combination, these enable the vulnerability of courage and bravery, and a space that fosters them is life changing—and often saving.
Erika’s work truly embodies what it means to say art is fundamental, necessary, and resistance to the status quo. It’s embedded in the fabric of our world—the energy that threads change and the sun that reaches across the landscapes of our lives. In this case: Canada’s first WNBA team, sport, community, mental health support, safe infrastructure, and the non-linear feedback loop that these coexist in together.
Please take a look through three of Erika’s recent projects, below, including images and captions from her that offer a wonderful window into each one!
WNBA x Maybelline New York x Buckets & Borders Court Design
Erika was asked to illustrate 3 large murals & backboards as part of a court refurbishment project in collaboration with WNBA, Maybelline New York, and Buckets & Borders.
1) Accessibility text: A basketball court with grey brick walls & wooden rafters. On the wall is Erika’s mural, with a beige background & images of women playing basketball, painted in overlapping shades & shapes of vibrant orange, red, blue, and yellow. The overhead lights are on in the gym, and the sun is shining through the windows. The logos for the WNBA, Maybelline New York, Buckets & Borders, and Erika’s signature & Instagram handle are printed in white in the bottom corners, alongside the words “BRAVE TOGETHER” in hand-written capital letters. 2) Accessibility text: A zoomed-out view of photo 4, featuring two basketball hoops. Beneath them are two black racks of WNBA orange & white basketballs. A mural is on the wall between them, with an orange background and the words “oakdale BE BOLD BE BRAVE” in yellow text, a mix of cursive & hand-printed capital letters, on the left of the mural. On the right side is a yellow hand with orange, blue, and red drawings of people playing basketball inside it. 3) Accessibility text: A basketball court with grey brick walls & wooden rafters. On the wall is Erika’s mural, with a beige background and images of women playing basketball, painted in overlapping shades & shapes of vibrant orange, red, blue, and yellow. The overhead lights are on in the gym and the sun is shining through the windows. The logos for the WNBA, Maybelline New York, Buckets & Borders, and Erika’s signature & Instagram are printed in white in the bottom corners, alongside the words “be bold” in cursive print. 4) Accessibility text: Against the grey brick wall of the court & above a string of pink basketballs on the floor, a hoop’s backboard features Erika’s artwork. It has a yellow background with curved designs in shades of red, orange, and blue. The logos for the WNBA & Maybelline New York are printed in white in the bottom corners.
“As someone who has always been a big advocate of grassroots initiatives, seeing the worlds of art, sport, community, advocacy, and infrastructure all in one impactful project has always been something I’ve actively sought. To be the artist to work on a project that means so much to a historically underserved community is a privilege I don’t take lightly.
Research shows that young people, especially young girls, experience better outcomes when participating in sports: from mental and physical health to learning crucial social skills and reducing the likelihood of being involved in violence. Yet we see girls under 14 drop out of sport due to a lack of access, safe spaces, and representation.
Refurbishing a basketball court into a beautiful, functional, safe, welcoming space with designs that young girls & women can see themselves in is just ONE STEP towards addressing these needs.
Every moment we show up - on the court, through artwork, through community, through taking meaningful action - is one brave step to breaking barriers for girls & women.
As an artist in the sports industry, this continues to be a lifelong goal of mine: to keep creating representation and empowering diverse communities through my artwork and participating in impactful projects that elevate that platform.”
—Erika's Instagram
Inaugural Away Jersey Design for AFC Toronto
Erika had the honour to be part of Canadian soccer history by being the artist to design the first-ever away jersey for AFC Toronto’s inaugural secondary kit! This was the Northern Super League’s first ever season, where the jerseys were worn by both players and fans alike.
1) Accessibility text: The AFC Toronto jersey. It has a black accenting, including the logos of Desjardins, Hummel, and the team. The jersey has a white background and light blue designs—several small illustrations reflecting the city of Toronto: a woman wearing a hijab, the CN Tower, a squirrel, the TTC, a Canada goose, and much more. 2) Accessibility text: A photo of Erika wearing the AFC Toronto jersey & black pants. She is holding a white & gold soccer ball, and is looking up at the camera.
“As both a sports fan and an artist, designing a jersey for your city is the epitome of a dream project. When I designed it, I wanted to create a jersey that people could wear for years to come, that people can look at and be like This is OUR city. This is OUR team. And I hope everyone feels that pride when they look at them.
A year ago, when I designed this jersey, I did a call-out on social media asking people to share what they think of when they think of Toronto. I’ve incorporated almost every single feedback I received—down to the “long lines” and “raccoon” sentiments—to try to capture what this city means to those who are from here.
But what makes this even more special is that this jersey, this game, is part of a historical moment in Canada—we have a professional women’s soccer league for the first time in Canadian history. This is a huge moment, and to be a part of that is such a privilege.
My favourite feature of the jersey is the CN Tower with the roots growing out of it. It was the very first thing I illustrated and the first thing that came to mind when I think “What does Toronto mean to me”. That part of the design is dedicated to my immigrant parents, who came here from the Philippines to plant new “roots” and give me a better life. And it’s ultimately dedicated to many families like mine who consider Toronto their home—their “roots”.”
—Inaugural game interview quotes
Nike x WNBA Collaboration for Canada’s First Ever WNBA Game
Together with Nike and the WNBA, Erika designed 32+ illustrations celebrating Canada’s first-ever WNBA game. These designs were part of a brand activation by Nike at Foot Locker Canada, where people customized their Nike apparel by heat-pressing her designs onto their merch in-store. The theme around the designs was to celebrate the growth of the women’s game in Canada with a special ode to her city, Toronto.
1) Accessibility text: A white page featuring many of Erika’s designs in shades of orange, red, green, yellow, and dark blue. There are numbers, many different women playing basketball, Nike swooshes & logos, maple leaves, trophies, the subway, WNBA & team logos, and fun phrases. 2) Accessibility text: A photo of Erika wearing black pants & a black t-shirt that features her designs. She is holding an i-Pad with her art pulled up on the screen, and is sitting on a wicker stool next to a large plant.
“Fun fact: the six women line art designs that were part of this project were originally part of a personal project on women’s basketball that I was already working on during that time. But when I heard Nike wanted to celebrate women in basketball for this historical event, I knew I had to use these. I knew this was the chance to use this platform to bring in representation, to create a series of diverse baller women that people can look at and think, “I could be them, too”.
Art is storytelling. One of the biggest prides an artist could have is the opportunity to share these stories but most especially have people resonate with them. It was my biggest honour to have people thanking me for putting the Philippines sun on the swoosh; for adding a girl baller in a Hijab. How could I not?
One moment with this project that will stay with me forever is when a woman, who is also of colour but not of Filipino heritage, asked me what the sun symbolized. After I explained it to her (i.e. it’s the sun from the Philippines, where I was born), she said, “I’m definitely putting it on my shirt then”. Surprised, I asked, “Really? But it’s such a specific symbol,” and to that she replied, “If one of us makes it, we all make it”.
So yeah, WE made it. We really made it.”
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