MOA exhibit aims to re-centre Black perspectives in Canada

A new exhibit celebrating the diverse practices and the lasting legacy of African and Black Canadian artists opened Thursday at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC.

Nuno Porto, co-curator of Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Routes says it brings together artists from Canada and Lagos under one umbrella term.

“Sankofa is a symbol from a language called Adinkra,” he explained. “The symbol is a bird that is moving forwards and looking backwards. So, it’s in a sense connecting the past with the future. It’s also a proverb, which means ‘Go back and get it,’ which means that the past is a source to understand the present and to move towards the future.”

He says reconnection with origins as you move forward is why Sankofa has been used as a symbol for Black affirmation around the world.

“It’s a term that you’ll find in a number of associations, of shops, of black businesses, and so on so forth.”

A piece of art from “Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Routes” at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. (Credit: moa.ubc.ca)

The exhibit features 30 works by 16 artists, which are in addition to the more than 100 items already featured in the MOA’s collection.

There are nine themes to the exhibit: recognition, remembrance, reconnection, restoration, reparation, reclamation, restitution, return, and reconstruction.

Vancouver’s Chantal Gibson’s piece, called Souvenir (2017), is one of them.

“The work confronts the intrinsic violence of painting everyone with the same brush, while performing an exercise of inscribing – against intentional erasure – the continued agency of Black Canadians in our communities and in the history of the country,” reads a description from the MOA.

“We should always be proud of our origins, always be proud of our cultural knowledge as a source to relate to the future. And I don’t mean this exclusively from a Black perspective or an African perspective. I think it’s good advice for everyone,” Porto said.

He adds Canada’s Black population has been a leader in arts and sciences among other fields and “[they have] been systematically erased from public discourse.”

Porto hopes exhibits like Sankofa can help begin discussion about that erasure.

“I think it’s the beginning. I mean, it’s not going obviously to solve all the problems, but it’s the beginning and it’s an opening of the conversation in that direction.”

A piece of art from “Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Routes” at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. (Credit: moa.ubc.ca)

Naya Lewis, another co-curator, says the exhibit addresses an “uncertain moment many Black Canadians face when they enter a museum.”

“[They] encounter a historicized version of Africa — how can one relate to these objects that have been removed from contemporary Black culture?” she said.

“Sankofa provides a space for viewers to investigate the African collections at MOA and reflect on how the stories, creativity, and traditions that live in these items might be re-examined to find the truth and history of who Black Canadians are now. Sankofa aims to build bridges of recollection and forge new relationships between the many diasporic identities found across the city and beyond.”

The exhibits are on display until Mar. 27, 2022.