Kitchener exhibition explores Blackness and Freedom
A two-day event highlighting work from twelve local Black artists and exploring the themes of Blackness and freedom is being held at the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum.
The Black and Free exhibition runs Saturday, March 25 to Sunday, March 26.
"Black and Free is a research creation project that I started in 2017 and we’re looking to bring together artists, academics, scholars and the general public to think about Blackness and freedom, to just have that conversation in its many complexities and ways," said Naila Keleta-Mae, Black and Free principal investigator. “Over the course of the weekend, we’ll be doing interviews with each artists to learn about their process, what they were creating, and to open up the space to audiences to ask questions as well.”
Attendees also have the opportunity to browse a pop-up market which features cultural food and clothing.
“We have a lot of vendors here who are sharing things that they’ve made themselves, as well as small businesses,” said Keleta-Mae. “We also have some community organizations here too who are just sharing some of the work that they do in the community. So you can come for the art, stay for the interviews, and do a little shopping.”
The event focuses on Black culture and history, but Keleta-Mae said it’s an exhibit for everyone to attend.
“Black and Free is for people who are curious, who are casual, and who are engages,” she said. “It has really been designed in all of our programming to think about being relevant to Black communities but to also connect with people who are concerned with these issues who don’t identify as Black.”
This is the first year the exhibit has run at the museum, but according to Keleta-Mae, it will be a multi-year partnership.
“We will be doing annual events here. The scope of the events, we’ll see, but Black and Free will be commissioning new artists every year to create new work.”
The final day of this year’s free event is Sunday, from noon to 3 p.m.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.