Black Expressions: Identities & Resistance

The mission of the Black Research Network (BRN) is to promote “Black excellence at the University of Toronto and enhance the research capacity of Black scholars within the university and on the world stage.” in this video, host Ainka Jess talks with some of the founding members of BRN to explore the origins of the network and how they are promoting Black research excellence across the three campuses at the University of Toronto.

Mark V. Campbell is an Ontario Certified Teacher and Assistant Professor of Music and Culture at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Curated by Mark Campbell,"Still Tho: Aesthetic Survival in Hip-Hop's Visual Art" provides an overview of the exhibition by Canadian Hip-Hop artists who have created graffiti murals, forms of mixed media, and a series of dance videos.

Keosha Love is a Toronto-based Poet and activist who uses her art to connect, resist and create spaces and a sense of community where Black voices are heard, celebrated, honoured, and represented.

Faisa Omer is a photographer from Ottawa, Ontario. "Reclaiming Public Space" is part of the CBC project, Black on the Prairies. In this video, Faisa Omer speaks with six Black Muslim women, either first or second-generation Somali-Canadian, who are the survivors of hate-based attacks in Edmonton in late 2021. The exhibition's title is a marker of resistance, paired with images and voices that capture the joy and feelings of community amongst the women.

Jameel Amman Paulin is a visual artist who "uses Afrofuturism as a means to explore the experiences, utopian visions, and aesthetic traditions of the African diaspora" (https://jameelamman.com/about/).

In this video, he discusses the dilemma of being an artist and how he can confront Anti-Black racism and violence in a way that offers "healing and power" for the black viewer. For Amman this comes through Afrofuturism which "represents a radically alternative visual language and world-view [sic]."

Available on YouTube and CBC Gem, Dreams in Vantablack features 12 powerful poems by Black youth, paired with colourful animated films. Each poem explores biography, being, imagination, and the intersectional aspects of Blackness, identity, and expression.

CBC Gem link: https://gem.cbc.ca/dreams-in-vantablack/s01

Matthew R. Morris is a writer, speaker, blogger, Toronto District School Board teacher, a graduate of the Social Justice Education program at OISE, and the author of a forthcoming book, Black Boys Like Me. In this presentation, Matthew shares some of his experiences in the public school system as a student and an educator and proposes alternatives to a model that often falls short of supporting and nurturing Black students and Black males in particular.

Ajahnis Charley is a Black, Non-Binary comedian who is also a filmmaker. In this short film, they share interviews with their mother and siblings and talk with them about their thoughts and feelings on coming out as a Gay man.

Patrice Palmer (they/them) identifies as Black, Queer, Transgender/Non-binary. In this presentation, Patrice Palmer discusses the process of coming to understand that they "intersect with their Blackness" because "Blackness is the encompassment of all."

Nancy Falaise is the owner of Salon Académie Nancy Falaise in Montreal, Canada. In this short film, she builds community and confidence for a group of young Black women by showing them how to embrace, care for, and love their natural hair.

Pick is written and directed by Scarborough-born filmmaker Alicia K. Harris. The film was voted Best Live Action Drama at the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards and official selection at the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival, 2020. The film follows a young girl who decides to wear her hair natural for her class photo and explores the microaggressions and macro invalidations (Tuitt et al., 2018) she and many Black women encounter in their daily lives. The film may be streamed from CBC Gem (https://gem.cbc.ca/).