Black Body: Race, Resistance, Response

Curator Pamela Edmonds brought together the diverse works of six contemporary black artists around the issue of the racialized body. Works ranged from the elegant photographic nudes of Toronto-based Michael Chambers to Halifax-based Chrystal Clements' poignant icons of domesticity and community. African oral traditions and visual sensibilities were evident in Gomo George's assemblages, while formal pyramidal structures and grids reinforced Rebecca Fiske's investigations of "colourism". Extraordinary oversize drawings of human figures by Lucie Chan and thought-provoking video installations by Buseje Bailey completed this selection. An illustrated catalogue with essays by Edmonds and Montreal-based artist/writer Anthony Joyette accompanied the exhibition, which was formally opened during the Symposium on "Racism and the Black World Response" convened by the James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies in Halifax, 5-12 August. This unprecedented global forum provided a backdrop for the exhibition, which was generously funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ideas Canada Foundation.