By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer
Content warning: Brief mention of police brutality and slavery.
Protest arts materialize when artists undertake the role of activists (hence the portmanteau, artivism) to challenge the status quo and spark dialogue surrounding injustice.
In the form of collective music, creative performances, public art murals, and more, these powerful works shatter Canada’s carefully crafted illusion of racial tolerance and multiculturalism, forcing audiences to confront the devaluation of Black lives and to demand racial justice.
Rufus John, a Canadian Caribbean R&B musician based in Kitchener, Ontario, formed United Artists 4 Change, a music coalition of over 40 Black and BIPOC artists to record Freedom Marching (Part 1). Produced in February 2022, the song was inspired by John’s experience following his partaking in a Black Lives Matter rally protesting the murder of George Floyd. Gary McAuley, the track’s vocal producer and one of many performers, told CBC News, “We are all marching together in this quest for a better place, free of hate and bigotry and systemic racism.” The moving song unites a chorus of commanding voices that coalesce into a single message: a refusal to back down in the collective fight for liberation.
Live performances are another formidable form of protest art. Having premiered at the Next Stage Theatre Festival as part of the 2023 Toronto Fringe, multidisciplinary dance group, Artists in Motion’s Black in Canada, is a part-spoken word and part-dance movement created by Jamaican-born, Toronto-based choreographer, Shameka Blake. The show offers a “glimpse into the social and emotional impact of systemic-racism, while teaching audiences about the accurate history of racial oppression in Canada,” all the while highlighting the Black community’s significant contributions and accomplishments in the country. The performance begins by tracing the steps of enslaved African Americans who arrived in British North America (now colonially known as Canada) via the Underground Railroad. However, the new life that awaited them in Canada was far from picture-perfect, as the lingering effects of racism and slavery continue to leave their mark. Black in Canada acts as political expression and education for audiences on the obscured histories and lived experiences of Black individuals.
Artivism likewise deals with remembrance: in an unassuming stretch of single-story family homes in Vancouver’s East Side, remnants of Black Strathcona are revived through a 45-metre long mural etched along the Dunsmuir Viaduct, paying tribute to its former residents. This historically Black neighbourhood once encompassed Hogan’s Alley before it was destroyed in the late 1960s to make way for the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaduct under the city’s urban renewal plan. These forgotten stories come back to life through vivid portraits designed by artist Anthony Joseph. They depict impressive figures such as Ernie King, a jazz musician, business entrepreneur, and owner of Vancouver’s first and only Black-owned nightclub, the Harlem Nocturne Cabaret, and Vie and Robert Moore, owners of the iconic soul food restaurant, Vie’s Chicken and Steaks. Also depicted are Leonard Lane, a civil rights activist, Nora Hendrix, grandmother of Jimi Hendrix and active community member, and the Crump Twins, a multi-talented performance duo, among many others. The powerful mural acts not only as a reminder of a once-thriving community, but also as an example of how art is being used to reclaim historically Black spaces.
As demonstrated through a mix of different creative mediums, activism and aesthetics intertwine to deliver an impactful commentary on Black racial identity and lived experiences. Black Canadians employ art not only to express their anger towards state-sanctioned violence towards Black folks on Turtle Island, but to also reclaim their histories and spaces.
