Making History: Visual Arts & Blackness in Canada

Julie Crooks is head of the Department of Arts, Global Africa, and the Diaspora at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Dominique Fontaine is a curator and founding director of aposteriori, a non-profit curatorial platform. Silvia Forni is a senior curator for Global Africa at the Royal Ontario Museum and an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto.

Making History is an unprecedented and boundary-breaking exploration of Black history and art in Canada. It brings together poems, artist statements, and art portfolios to showcase a careful and thoughtful understanding of Black aesthetics, while discussing the presence of Black contemporary art in Canadian institutions and offering perspectives on contemporary and historical art practices. The many voices and points of view within this publication explore alternate ways of approaching the relationship between institutions, artists, and audiences, emphasizing the significance of collaboration, resisting hierarchical and hegemonic curatorial practices, and making room for multiple perspectives to bring about transformative change.