Black History Here, Now, Then, Always: A Conversation Across Exhibitions

Photograph by Femi

Join curators from Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots (Museum of Anthropology) and Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum (Royal BC Museum/ BC Black History Awareness Society) as they explore intersections across these two powerful and important exhibitions that daylight Black History and Black Belonging in BC and beyond.

Panelists:

• Joshua Robertson, curator for the exhibition Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum, was a founding board member of the Hogan’s Alley Society, an organization that works to redress the displacement of people of African Descent and to advance their social, political, economic and cultural well-being. Joshua’s research, advocacy and consultancy focus on the centering of racialized communities in city planning, alternative economic models of inclusion, social enterprise development and redress based urban design principals. Joshua’s recent work has been in decolonial curation of Black art and history in historically colonial spaces. A curator, creative and musician; his cultural community organizing work has evolved around daylighting the issues of Black artists and Black art accessibility. Joshua is most passionate around issues at the intersection of race and space. He is a candidate for the Master of Arts degree in Global Studies at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
• Nya Lewis, guest curator for the exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots, is a Vancouver-based independent curator, and MFA candidate at OCAD. A writer, activist, and community organizer committed to building just and inclusive cultural and social infrastructure in Vancouver - her work celebrates the strength and perseverance of Black Canadian culture, history and its diversity.
• Dr. Nuno Porto, MOA Curator for the exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots, holds a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, where he taught anthropology until 2011. In Central Portugal, he worked on issues related to literacy acquisition, religion and visual culture. In Cape Verde and Angola his work has focused on issues related to colonialism, science, museology, photography, material, visual and digital cultures, and contemporary African art.
• Titilope Salami, guest curator of for exhibition Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots, is an artist, curator, and lecturer of visual arts at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her group exhibitions include Jubilation (2014), Diversiform (2018), Strength of Women (2019), and On and On (2019), and she participated in the performance Red Day (2017) with Jelili Atiku. Salami is currently conducting her Ph.D. research in the history and policies of West African museums at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Moderator:

• Rachael Otukol is a board member of BC Black History Awareness Society (BCBHAS). BCBHAS celebrates the achievements of Black people in British Columbia by creating an awareness of the history of Blacks in B.C.; stimulating interest in the contributions of persons of African ancestry to B.C. and Canada today; and celebrating historical and contemporary achievements in the arts, education, government, sports, science etc. 

Register in advance for this webinar:

Webinar Registration - Zoom 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. If you are not able to access through Zoom, we will also be streaming on Facebook Live and a recording will be posted on the Royal BC Museum YouTube channel in the days following the presentation.