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Wyssolela Moreira
Jaslyn Marshall
Adwoa Toku
Rhandy Adolphe
Nikola Steer
Jen Katshunga
JOSEPH GALIWANGO
Kristen Allicock
Wayne Hanson
Teneshia Samuel

The Pathways To Ancestral Knowledge Collection

Artists participating in this Cohort.

About the Curator

James Michael Yeboah is a Ghanian- Canadian visual artist born and raised in Mississauga Ontario. James has shown work at the Myseum’s Intersections festival, has been an artist in residence at Nia Centre for the Arts and has had two solo shows entitled When Black Boys Cry and Black Boys Forever at Magic Pony Gallery and Margin of Eras Gallery respectively. He is also currently a TAC grant recipient for Visual arts creation. James’ work mostly touches on issues revolving around the Black community such as mental health, anti Black violence, toxic masculinity, and the difficulties in being part of the African diaspora. James’ work attempts to touch on these topics in order to improve communication and to mend relationships within the black community. James’ work is also very introspective, as it functions as a meditation on how he can be a better member of his community in order to effectively inspire change.

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Kalunga by Wyssolela Moreira

About the Artwork

Is a digital collage piece inspired by a ritual of the Axiluanda people, from Angola. During "Xinguilamento", which is the trance state achieved through ritual and dance, people are able to communicate with the spirit of their loved ones to honor them and for guidance to navigate life. This piece is an offering to our ancestors that guide us, and a reminder of the portals of healing they open.
Wyssolela Moreira, born in Angola, lives and works in Toronto, Canada as a multidisciplinary artist, art director, and energy worker. Her experimental art practice uses digital collage, writing, photography, video-art, and performance to explore the complexities of self, of being. To challenge the expectations of presenting as African over time while navigating concepts such as self-identity, ancestry, spirituality, mental health, discrimination, gender inequality, and African human rights.
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Severed 2021 by Jaslyn Marshall

About the Artwork

Last year, my grandfather died. We weren't close but it was the last time I talked to that side of the family. The connection ended with his demise Distance required during COVID protocol reflected the distance he had with us in his life
Jaslyn Marshall is a Canadian storyteller who turns basic aspects of the human condition on its head. When she's not working, she's probably laughing at memes, daydreaming about dogs, or reading a good book.
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Re-member by Adwoa Toku

About the Artwork

This body of work showcases flashes of embedded memory, reminding one of who we've always been. Combining shapes, color and movement the artist uplifts the style and grace of her elders known and unknown. Even across the diaspora Earth holds the messages our ancestors shared for us; We can transform by the same cycles that change the caterpillar and crystal, we belong, wisdom flows downstream.
adwoa toku is a Artist and Farmer based in Tkaronto. As a multidisciplinary artist, her practice is deeply informed by her belief in the inherent Queerness of Nature and her journey within this knowing. She draws insight from patterns seen on Lichen & tree bark, alongside her meditation practice. Through her lens of a first-generation Ghanaian-Canadian, adwoa’s work is provoked by stories held within her body in relation to Earth, ancestry, and the possibilities between the unseen and undefined
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La Belle Bebelle by Rhandy Adolphe

About the Artwork

"I win because you are watching over me, protecting me, and guiding me. I sin despite knowing you are watching over me, protecting me, and guiding me. Ma belle Tante Bebelle, I sense you're well. Please know your strength is still in me, powering every cell."
As a good vibes explorer, I strive to capture life's most precious moments, one frame at a time.
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Selections from The Ghost Apartment by Nikola Steer

About the Artwork

The Ghost Apartment resurrects my childhood livingroom using my late father's slides projected at life size. The "room" is then filled with transparent illustrations of the family. My father was proud of his stereo and record collection. He taught me to dance on his feet, the art of the mixed tape, and the role of music in hosting and connecting with guests. I reconnect with him by drawing him.
Nikola Steer is an interdisciplinary artist, producer and curator based in T'Karonto/Toronto. Known internationally as burlesque headliner Coco Framboise, the scope of her practice is ever-expanding, including dance, theatre, writing, storytelling, photography, filmmaking, illustration, painting, sculpture and more. Currently she is focused on building immersive installations and experiences designed to educate, entertain and invoke poignant wonder about our shared humanity.
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In & Out by Jen Katshunga

About the Artwork

‘In & Out’ highlight the expansive ways we interact, understand & interpret ancestral knowledge. ‘Braid’ (photograph) represents the internal portal to ancestral memory highlighting the process of forgottenness, remembering & rebirth. ‘Sea’ is a multimedia piece that represents relationality & the external connections to this knowledge which can be found in the waters, in the wind & in others.
Ngalula Jen/NJ (also uses Jen Katshunga) is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, researcher and cultural worker raised and based in T'karonto (Toronto). In NJ's expansive approaches to making: painting, writing, photography and performance, their work is invested in liberation and self-determination focusing on memory, space and healing as conduits for these explorations.
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Ancestral Voices by JOSEPH GALIWANGO

About the Artwork

This photo series invites us to consider how vintage technology like mixers and photos might be symbolic of ancestral voices. The voices of our ancestors are forever with us being slightly adjusted by time, like knobs on a mixer. They transcend new ages and intersect with our past and future experiences.
Joseph Galiwango is an artist based in Toronto. As an educator, artist, father, vinyl curator, and DJ, he creates content, curriculum, art, and music for the purpose of taking his community on a journey to new horizons. The Records With My Daughters Photo Series has been designed to inspire joy and change through the experience of two young girls learning to enjoy records and Djing with their family. This exhibit is the latest manifestation of the Records With My Daughters Experience.
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Beautiful Disaster by Kristen Allicock

About the Artwork

In the past two years I have lost my aunt, my grandfather and most devastatingly, my father. All happened within months of eachother and in conjunction with the pandemic, trying to find some sense of "normalcy" through it all as chaotic. Loss in this magnitude is new territory and I found myself creating more than usual. This piece expresses my chaotic journey within trying to make sense of it all
Interdisciplinary artist and owner of dominiquedesigns.ca
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Guardian Angel by Wayne Hanson

About the Artwork

Past, present, future we are all led by the divine in us. 2. Covered Until we are all … we will get through …
Wayne Hanson has been reimagining the Black experience for more than 50 years. From Jamaica, Hanson’s work has been displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto City Hall and numerous galleries across Ontario. Hanson’s piece Guardian Angel graces the cover of Canadian Poet Laureate’s book Directions Home.
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Selections from the Series "Ocean Voices" by Teneshia Samuel

About the Artwork

Ocean Voices is a series of mixed media grieving on canvas and accompanying poems. These pieces reflect upon the forced migration of African peoples during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. With eerily calm and serene blue-grey tones, this series processes trans-historical and generational grief from the Middle Passage, tapping into the psyches of enslaved and colonial subjectivities.
A first-generation child of Caribbean immigrants to the treaty territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Teneshia T. Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist, scholar, educator and counsellor. Born visually and hearing impaired, Teneshia’s art investigates the creative process as a multi-sensory, accessible, transformational and immersive experience.