Those that pass through, remain, return is a three-year public art project honouring Concordia University’s and Montreal’s Black community. Recordings of the sound of breathing from senior members of the community, artists, activists and Concordia faculty and students form the basis of the work. 

On the windows are towering colour saturated Breath Portraits, visualizations of the recorded breath. In the soundscape in the foyer songs from migratory birds from the Caribbean and African continent become a coded invitation to invoke our ancestors, while the breath underneath holds emotion, memory and presence. Campbell explains: “The breath counters the ongoing instrumentalization of Black bodies and the usual routes to validation: achievement, excellence, suffering, resilience…, here it is enough just to breathe. The birdsong stands in for the individuality and diversity present in the Black community, the new perspectives we bring and the many migratory routes we travel.”

Charles thanks all those who lent their breath to this work.

Adrienne Johnson, Andrew Jackson, Angélique Willkie, Amanda Préval, Camina Harrison-Chéry, Cécilia Bracmort, Corvus Campbell, Cynthia Alphonse, Dana Edmonds, Diana Goudrouffe, Diane Gistal, Dominique Fontain, DZI..AN, Elena Stoodley, Faye Corbin, Géraldine Entiope, Guy Mushagalusa Chigoho, Isaiah Joyner, Jacqueline Peters, James Roach, Kharoll-Ann Souffrant, Lydie Dubuisson, Maguy Métellus, Malcom Odd, Marilou Craft, Marlihan Lopez, Martine Fourcand, Marven Clerveau, Mathieu Lacroix, Michaëlle Sergile, nènè myriam konaté, Olivier Vilaire « Oski Awoyo », Sendy-Loo Emmanuel, Sharon Nelson, Shirlette Wint, Teeanna Munro, Valérie d. Walker,  Yorik Kaz, Yves Pierre-Louis.