>> Jeyan: Late last year, the art gallery of Ontario announced the creation of the Department
of arts of global Africa and the DIASPORA.
Its first full exhibition is now on display.
TVO's diversity and inclusion reporter Ashley Okwuosa checked in on how that came together and
how it's already building community and she joins us from Ontario's capital city hi
Ashley.
>> Ashley: Hi Jeyan.
You wept from an AGO curator and how were they instrumental to bringing this art to the AGO.
Catch us up to speed on how that all came together.
>> Ashley: It's a really interesting story.
Kenneth Montague is a dentist and art collector and Julie brooks is the curator of global
Africa and the diaspora.
One of them at the AGO.
So apparently she had called up Kenneth and they were sort of thinking about how do we make
this happen.
Now what's most interesting I think to me is how exactly they did that.
Kenneth has said they don't want to go to a singular donor.
Someone who donated a ton of time.
They wanted to make this a community effort.
So they called up members of Toronto's black urban community and started raising money.
They sent e-mails, called people and over a couple of months they were able to raise $300,000 to
acquire these images and 200 out of this larger collection.
200 of these images are being show cased at an exhibition now called fragments of ethnic
memory at the AGO.
>> Jeyan: We mentioned off the top that it was about a year ago that the AGO created this new
department -- first of its kind in Canada -- can you tell us what the purpose of the
department is?
>> Ashley: The department will focus on expanding the museum's collection and exhibits from
Africa and the diaspora.
It was intended to deepen the roots in the community.
There is a committee called global friends of the diaspora in that community there are
about 17 members made up of art students to professionals, people who have experience and
people who don't and it's really about having these people really contribute to the department in
some way, you know, whether it's kind of raising money for future acquisitions or supporting the
work of the department itself.
So the centre really got about deepening the museum's roots in the community.
>> Jeyan: And it really seems like, you know, sort of shrinking that gap as well some
people may feel that the art community is quite exclusive in your reporting as well.
Did you kind of see where that gap -- where that gap came from and how they're sort of
addressing that as well?
>> Ashley: Yeah, I think people mentioned that you can't really have a diverse representation of
people in the art community if you don't really ask them, if you don't kind of reach out to
the people who you want to see be part of these committees or be part of these conversations
and ask them to join.
You know, so I think that's what the museum is doing with this committee.
But someone also mentioned to me that historically museums haven't always done right by
people of colour.
Black people, you know, for example she had mentioned especially maybe for example
with museums in Europe, you know, going to museums and seeing art that's been looted or
taken from African countries and things like that.
So I think what really she felt when she was looking at this exhibit, she really felt like
she was being welcomed, she would ask to be part of something.
That was really the sense and I think that's how the exhibit is closing this gap.
>> Jeyan: Before we get into some photos of the exhibits which is called fragments of
epic memory, I understand that this exhibit tries to answer a question and that question is
how do we see Caribbean.
What exactly does that mean?
>> Ashley: That's actually a really good question.
I didn't -- I wish we had explored it more.
But the pictures in the exhibit go from 1840s to 1940s.
So is post emancipation.
It shows different parts of the Caribbean, different countries of the Caribbean at different
times throughout this time period.
So I think what the museum is trying to do is show there is no one singular story.
There are a lot of countries, cultures and shared history that I think it does try to show case
that in a really nuanced way.
>> Jeyan: Let's get into some of the artwork.
This exhibit has a collection of both historical photos and contemporary art.
This is a historical photo.
Can you tell us what we're looking at here?
>> Steve: Yeah, sure.
This is a black and white photo from the Montgomery collection.
It is a photo of a woman dressed really regally with a head piece dated 1890.
And the title is "unknown Martinique woman" which shows you how far back they go.
That's one example.
>> Jeyan: Very interesting.
This is a black and white photo with five women.
I believe this is called "Jamaican women."
Tell us a little bit about this photo here.
>> yeah, this is definitely another photo from the Montgomery collection, another
historical photo.
It is black and white.
It is a photo from Jamaica and this is sort of post the abolishment of slavery.
This is -- this photo helps tell that story of that period.
>> Jeyan: And this one's a bit of a departure from the first two.
Again, more of a contemporary side.
This one is called untitled seven women.
Tell us about this image.
>> Ashley: This is by Paul Anthony Smith.
It's kind of a multi-coloured depiction of women in what I'm assuming can only match our at
carnival in full head dress with the pieces and the head pieces and the body pieces.
And it's a really wonderful depiction of something that we've come to see during the
carnival period.
>> Jeyan: All right and we have this image as well.
This one is called "women's carnival group" very beautiful here.
Tell us about that.
>> Ashley: It's a painting by Comeau George.
This is also at the exhibit.
It's another multi-coloured exhibit of women and people generally in a town square
during a carnival period.
I think the image goes on to show case that vibrancy and joy that usually happens during this
period.
>> Jeyan: I am curious to know that you spoke to some people who got to go through the
exhibit.
I am curious, how has it been received in the community but also I'm curious to know sort of
with the younger Caribbean sort of community here, how are they sort of taking in this exhibit
and sort of seeing this sort of for the first time?
>> Ashley: I spoke to artists and just, you know, general enthusiasts who went to see the
show.
Some described it as a healing journey which I thought was interesting.
Another described it as a bridge.
A bridge that either she hadn't been to in a while or a culture that she had forgotten or hadn't
experienced as much as she would like to.
I think that's what a lot of people are seeing.
A lot of people say I look at the pictures and see people who look like my family members, my
aunt, my uncle my grandmother.
So I think it really is definitely a story telling experience for a lot of people
and they feel very connected to it personally.
>> Jeyan: I should mention that the exhibit is open, has been open since September and runs
until February 21st.
Ashley, I want to thank you so much.
Really appreciate it.
>> Ashley: Thank you.