In celebration of Black History Month this February, the Harriet Tubman Institute (HTI), the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, and the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change (EUC) joined hands in presenting an exhibition on the Politics/Poetics of Migration, inviting people to explore and learn about the complex histories, movements, and futures shaped by Black migration.
An opening ceremony was held on February 5, which included a panel discussion and gallery tours at EUC’s Crossroads (HNES 283) and ZigZag Galleries (HNES Lounge). HTI co-directors Bianca Beauchemin and Damilola Adebayo discussed the importance of highlighting the diasporic and migratory experiences of Black people in Canada and the Institute’s commitment and mandate to research and promote understanding of Africa; address contemporary issues and struggles of African peoples and diasporic communities; foster debate among scholars, engage community members; and inform public policy on issues affecting Black communities.
Participating artists include Rose-Lynne Amoah, Antonio Berhan Keleta, Ruth Berhe, Jamaya Dixon, Asha Edwin, Pixel Heller, Aaron Joseph, Mosa McNeilly, Sytra Mohammed, Vanessa Oraekwe, Gabriela Sealy, and Natalie Wood. The artists are primarily Canadian-born, but they carried with them stories of repeated displacement as children and grandchildren of African and Caribbean immigrants to Canada.
Curators for the exhibition include EUC professor, Muna-Udbi Ali, Yasmine Espert, Aaron Joseph, Uzoma Ekpunobi, and Sheba Wiafe highlighting the stories of several York students and artists of African heritage.
The artworks engage the political realities and the poetic imaginings of migration: displacement, being and belonging, borders and crossings, memory, and transformation. In this current political environment of renewed attention to migration, climate crisis, and global displacement, Politics/Poetics of Migration asks: How do Black artists trace, remember, or imagine migration? What new geographies of freedom and belonging are being formed? How do creative practices embody movement, survival, and reimagination?
Through the convergence of art, history, and lived experience, the exhibition aims to illuminate how Black mobility continues to shape the world’s cultural and political landscapes. The exhibition will run until May 2026.
Everyone is invited to visit and view the art exhibitions and installations at EUC’s Crossroads Gallery at HNES 283 and ZigZag Gallery at HNES Lounge dedicated to Black history, culture, and futures.
Read also the event coverage by Sana Paracha, Arts Editor of Excalibur, an autonomous newspaper that publishes campus-related affairs within York University and its community.