Nolan is considered part of a Canadian feminist music movement of the 1980s and 90s. In the early years of her career, she performed with the feminist band, The Heretics. Nolan's music is described as "her political work, a politics firmly rooted in her being
working class, a woman,
African Canadian and
queer." Nolan is
openly lesbian, and uses her music to link her sexuality with the musical history of black North America. Part of her activist work has been documenting the social, political and cultural history of Africville, a historic African Canadian settlement in
Maritime Canada. Rinaldo Walcott cites her as one of the African-Canadian artists working to prevent the erasure of the black presence in Canadian history., Nolan has spent her recent years working with women prisoners at various prisons worldwide including
Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ontario and the
Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario. In 1994, Nolan in conjunction with the Toronto Women of Colour Collective, once known as the Toronto Multicultural Womyn in Concert, helped establish Camp SIS (Sisters in Struggle) located in the Kawarthas, 2 hours northeast of Toronto. In 2009, Nolan was named Honoured Dyke for Toronto's 2009 Pride celebrations and led the 2009 Dyke March. On November 29, 2014, Nolan was recognized at the third annual Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Award Gala for her contribution to the arts and labour movement. In 2021, her album
Africville was named the jury winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize at the
2021 Polaris Music Prize. ==Personal life==