Artivism and Storytelling: Who gets to tell Black queer stories?

India-Lynn Upshaw-Ruffner is a Black bi-racial artist, writer, curator, and cultural worker from Montreal. She completed her BFA in Art History and Studio Arts at Concordia University, and is pursuing a Master's degree in Art History at Concordia University. She is interested in exploring Black livingness, place-making, Anthropocene, mental health, archiving, and radical care in her work and artistic practice.

Most recently, her work was shown at Fait-moi l'art gallery in May 2023 in a co-curated exhibition “Tenderly Reminiscing”, and she was the artist panel moderator and writer for the FOFA Gallery’s “Looking In, Looking Out” Black Arts Series film screening and finissage in December 2023. India-Lynn was also the Artistic and Community Alliances Coordinator at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse throughout 2022, producing La Centrale’s first digital publication [espace variable | placeholder]. She was the admin/finance coordinator at the Fine Arts Reading Room of Concordia University from 2022-2024. She is now the Education and Engagement Coordinator at Sustainable Concordia.

Sandra Mouafo is a queer 2nd generation Franco-Cameroonian immigrant, writer, community organiser, social justice pedagogist and the executive director for Project 10, a non-for-profit and registered charity supporting 2LGBTQ+ youth between 14-25 years of age. She has years of experience in sustainability, anti-oppression, equity, diversity & inclusivity, intersectionality, mental health, youth mentorship, and anti-racism. She is passionate about racial and social justice, advocates for wellness and mental health, and supports various community and pedagogical projects and programming. She aims to support the dismantling of white supremacy, the creation of paths toward relational recovery and communal well-being, and the normalization of consent.  She is committed to contributing to a world where all beings get to know and experience true freedom.