*This exhibition has been configured as a travelling exhibition. Contact the RBCM Learning Program for details.
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Written, told and designed by Black voices, this exhibition reclaims and retells the complicated history of stolen people on stolen land, and how the contributions of Black leaders echo across the centuries into the present.
BCBHAS Team
Silvia Mangue, President, BC Black History Awareness Society & Team Lead
Fran Morrison, BCBHAS Board Member, Advisor
Rachael Otukol, BCBHAS Member, Communications & Community Liaison
Charity Williams, OLY, BCBHAS Youth Engagement Coordinator, Community Liaison
Community Focus Group:
Hiwot Andarge, Pam Buisa, Danyelle Catini, Jean de Dieu Tuyisenge, Charlie Demy, William Goldiet, Dominique Jacobs, Nercya Kalino, Danielle Kyei, Bilal Mohammed, Paul Mulangu, Ruth Nakalyowa, Kemi Odegbile, Adeit Omule, Rachael Otukol, Charity Williams.
Curator and Writer – Josh Robertson
Designer – Rodney Hazard
Joshua Tecumseh F. Robertson 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.
Rodney Hazard is a multidisciplinary artist, creative director, and the founder of Le Loup Studios based in Brooklyn, NY.
Since obtaining his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from St. John’s University, his decade-long career spans across art direction and creative execution of all forms.
Using his wide range of creative skills and commercial awareness, he is constantly executing on a wide variety of successful design and multimedia projects.
As a musician and DJ, he has performed all over the world, facilitating a variety of audiovisual experiences fostering a sense of inclusivity amongst his audiences.
Many art pieces in this exhibit are the work of Sade Alexis, born and raised in Vancouver; Black woman artist and illustrator “My work focuses on the ways in which Blackness can be understood and celebrated through art, in all of its complexities and intricacies… a means of bringing Black experience into the historically colonial art world”.
Against the backdrop of white-centring walls, this exhibit daylights the living and ongoing history of Black belonging, told in this manner by the Black community for the first time. Visit the RBCM Hope Meets Action online Pathway, a virtual space for learners of all ages to explore the exhibit through text, images and videos.
The opening ceremony took place at Royal BC Museum on August 14, 2021
Guest book comments
“This exhibit – both the content and the process is a testimony to the power of Black British Columbia, past, present and future.”
“A moving experience, not only to see the exhibit but to witness the process, behind the community.”
“This will be remembered as one of the most important moments in creating a place of Belonging for the Black Community in B.C. and Canada. The words, the art, the written Account will live on. This telling is as uncompromising as it is powerful. Thank you!”
“I’m honoured and truly inspired to be at this exhibit for the opening. Hope and Action has made me so proud to be Black. Thank you!”
