The Secret Codes: African Nova Scotian Quilts is a collaboration between the Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia (BANNS), and the Vale Quilters Association, a group comprised of mostly Black women from the Vale Road area of New Glasgow, and Nova Scotia’s only incorporated guild of Black quilters.

The Secret Codes  explores the unique tradition and evolution of quilt-making in Nova Scotia’s Black communities over the past century. Presenting works by more than twenty-five quiltmakers and painters, the exhibition highlights the ways that quilts have functioned as decorated blankets, as coded communication for people escaping slavery, as documentary records of community and family history, as a celebration of Black women and Black culture, and as a foundation for other art forms.