M. NourbeSe Philip with Donna Bailey Nurse
In recent decades Black Women’s writing has emerged as one of the most prominent and profound literatures in the world. From Chimamanda Adichie in Nigeria to Angie Thomas in the United States to Esi Edugyan in Canada to Zadie Smith in the U.K. – its reach is diasporic. And its stories – set everywhere – unfold at the fiery intersection of race, class and gender. Their writings contemplate the chief mystery of the human condition: Namely, how to liberate the human spirit.
In the Living Room: Space, Race and Gender
Join us for a discussion between multidisciplinary artists Noah Brown and Adrienne Matheuszik as they explore how their artistic practices re-conceptualize the ways in which we think about racialized and gendered identities.
In the Living Room: The Ethics of Black Aesthetics
Join us for a discussion between multidisciplinary artists Amber Williams-King and Oreka James as they explore the responsibility and ethics of making culturally specific work.
What does it mean to create work that speaks to or from a particular community? In what ways can artists represent black figures in their work without contributing to a history of objectification? How are black artists resisting cooptation from external forces as they reclaim ownership of their bodies, identities and cultural images?
In the Living Room: The Dis/Appearing Black Body
Join us for a discussion between photographer Jorian Charlton and multidisciplinary artist Shantel Miller as they explore the ways in which their practices address the representations of black women in visual culture.
The Feast
The Feast is a performative dining exchange seating 100 Black women artists and arts workers around an exaggerated table down the centre of the Art Gallery of Ontario. It is a communal action positioning Black women creatives, knowledge holders and cultural producers at the centre of one of Canada’s largest arts institutions.
Daughters of the Dust
Dir. Julie Dash
1991| 1 h 53 min
At the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots.
Coco Framboise (Nikola Steer) - Afro-Dite: HairLoom
Afro-Dite: HairLoom is a contemplation of black beauty and the celebration of its otherness. Sourced from her childhood experience of wearing large braids to school and being different from her mostly Caucasian schoolmates, the artist invites her mother (and others) to rebraid her hair, this time weaving in textures and textiles of autobiographical, cultural, and ethnic significance.