Black Arts Series

Chez Dr. Bello

During a hypnotherapy session, a woman is made to confront the suppression of a memory and as a result, the denial of a life-changing event that shook up her entire world. 

ASK ME WHAT MY NAME IS

ASK ME WHAT MY NAME IS cites a 16-year-old Black girl who is confronted by Canada’s legacy of anti-Black carding practices when two RCMP officers violently arrest her at a Surrey bus terminal. The film uses cross dissolves to interrogate racial misidentifications in policing methods and sonic cues to amplify the "ordinariness of racism," as described by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic (2017). 

ASK ME WHAT MY NAME IS is part of a collection of creative work that imaginatively unmakes and remakes public records of police violence against Black girls to foreground their stories, interventions, and resistance.

Bio

Desirée de Jesús, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at York University and a video essayist for Side Eye Cinema. Her research uses experimental animation and cinematographic critical fabulation to offer more fulsome pictures of Black girl agency depicted within surveillance videos and images. Her collaborative research-creation projects include working with racialized girls from immigrant communities to document their experiences of COVID-19 inequalities and with Black Canadian girls to map geographies of cultural and national belonging.

Elemental

What does it mean to inhabit a Black body in this realm? From joy and love to resilience and power, the Black lived experience is characterised by the simplicities of being human and the complexities of existing in a society where anti-Black racism remains prevalent. Through a multimedia approach, elemental aims to juxtapose these moments and present a space to contemplate the nuanced dualities of Black identity.

Bio

Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo is a multimedia visual activist scholar whose practice extends between N’Swakamok (Sudbury, ON) and Tiohtià:ke (Montréal, QC). Their work explores the intersection of art and activism, particularly contemplating the entanglement of Black identity, community, and futurity. Co-founder and Chair of Black Lives Matter Sudbury, Ra’anaa strives to actively decolonize every facet of their life, supporting calls to defund the police, abolish the prison industrial complex, and for liberation in our lifetime. They are impassioned by community-engaged art and the notion that art should be inherently accessible. A Black queer cultural curator, Ra’anaa holds a master’s degree in architecture and is currently pursuing a SSHRC-funded doctorate in art history at Concordia University. Ra’anaa is a 2022 STEPS Public Art CreateSpace Artist-in-Residence, a 2022-23 Barry Pashak Social Justice Graduate Fellow, and a 2023-24 Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism Black Arts Fellow.

Mango Lemon Soda

Mango Lemon Soda is an independent short film about liberating oneself from toxic environments and relationships. The film takes place on a hot summer day and follows the life of a Black femme who has set up a date with her estranged ex, Tyler; hopeful that he has changed after a year of separation. Throughout their day together, Zahrah remembers all the harmful reasons why she left him in the first place and must decide whether she will blindly continue pursuing a relationship with Tyler or prioritize herself and abandon the toxic familiarity.

Bio

Emem Etti (they/she) is a Nigeria-born, Vancouver-raised rug maker and visual artist currently completing a BFA in film production at Concordia University. As a femme growing up in a traditional Nigerian home in Canada, the dichotomy between the two cultures pushed them to pursue storytelling in visual arts to interpret their experience. Emem strives to create work that challenges the notion of Black portrayal and femme representation, and that also explores the realms of Afrofuturism, surrealism and expanded cinema.

halves & doubles

Director Adam and her sister Khadija share a close bond; however, there is unspoken trauma between them. In this short documentary, the two hold a conversation where they attempt to find mutual understanding through the winding road of expressing emotions.

Bio

Adam Mbowe is a Gambian-Canadian-American artist and filmmaker currently residing in Montréal. Her body of multimedia work delves into the intricate themes of oppression and intersectionality, seamlessly weaving together elements of both documentary and fiction. Her creative inspiration is drawn from the everyday trials and aspirations of ordinary individuals, intentionally blurring the lines that separate reality from imagination.

I’m Glad You’re Here

In the summer of 2208, Khethiwe shares a call with her late great-grandmother, who imparts insights about her future. Through Amanzi Connexions technology, Khethiwe and her great-grandmother are connected using a framework similar to "in-dream data transfer.". The Amanzi Connexions online platform allows Khethiwe to connect to the African Ancestral Network (ANN) and speak to her grandmother in real time.  

Taking the form of a fictional advertisement, this film is inspired by conversations and visions my mother dreamt of before and during various significant events in her life.  For example, months before my sister's birth, my mother dreamt about a conversation with my late grandmother where she named my sister Dineo.  These dreams are instances of "in-dream data transfer" in which my mother receives information from the ANN, while asleep. With advanced African technology and a profound understanding of ancestral connections, Amanzi Connexions can provide Khethiwe with an interactive experience of "in-dream data transfer" while awake.

Bio

Karl Obakeng Ndebele (b.1995) is a multidimensional artist working through design, photography, and film. He currently holds a BFA in film production from Concordia University. Karl’s speculative work focuses on the mundane experiences of Africans in future worlds.

This program is a partnership between the NouLa Center For Black Students, FOFA Gallery, and the Visual Collections Repository (VCR). 

The NouLa Centre for Black Students is dedicated to fostering Black students' full engagement, access, and sense of belonging at Concordia. We offer resources, services, and programming for Concordia students from Black communities, and we bridge access with internal units and external organizations that can support Black student success and wellness.

The Visual Collections Repository (VCR) supports research and teaching for the Faculty of Fine Arts by providing visual resources media services and programming and training opportunities for students, faculty and researchers.