Black History Month Digital Exhibition Curator Career Launcher

We're excited to announce leaf jerlefia as the recipient of the Black History Month Digital Exhibition Curator Career Launcher presented by Yonge-Dundas Square and RBC Centre for Emerging Artists and Designers

leaf's curatorial project, titled between starshine & clay, is screening at Yonge-Dundas Square in February 2022 with artists and poets: Bidemi Oloyede, Chauncey Downer-Hincks, Ehiko Odeh, Marlon Barrington and Zawadi Bunzigiye.

between starshine & clay

In 2020, a year of uncertainty and civil unrest, we developed new coping mechanisms to survive global hardship. Indoors—and glued to our screens—images of police brutality, grief and death bombarded our communities, inspiring many to delete apps, sign-off and turn-off their devices. Where did we go? What healing spaces did we find for recovery? And what did they teach us?

between starshine & clay (2022) creates a dreamspace for healing, weaving a meditation for the Black community to rest and recover. Across 5 angled screens, the exhibition references the ancestors, abolitionists and activists who through mysticism looked to the sky for guidance.

Spanning from photography to portraiture to poetry, the works featured are reflective, present and Afro-futuristic, spiralic and multi-directional, embodying the tenderness of our kinfolk who thought of us as we think of them.

CURATOR

leaf jerlefia

leaf jerlefia is a Jamaican-Canadian curator, poet and cultural critic, whose work explores poetics, diaspora and feminism. Her multiples, entitled Doctor’s Notes Against Intolerance (2016), were featured in This ArtWorks!, a web-series for CBC Arts in collaboration with Madeleine Co. In 2017, jerlefia participated in a 6-month long nomadic residency with British filmmaker, Isaac Julien, CBE, as part of OCADU’s Global Experience Project. She has curated 7 exhibitions, including It’s (Still) Privileged Art (2016) and Soul: Thrifted (2017). jerlefia holds a BFA in Criticism & Curatorial Practice from OCAD University and lives in Toronto, ON.

Read more about the exhibition’s featured artists:

Marlon Barrington was born and raised in England. After migrating to Canada he began painting based on his interest in people, their diversity, heritage and culture. As a Black artist he has become increasingly drawn to representing the people who share his heritage. Barrington has participated in group and solo shows in Toronto and the Durham area. He completed his BFA at OCAD U in Drawing and Painting in 2020.

Zawadi Bunzigiye is a multidisciplinary artist based in so-called "Canada". In her art, she focuses on home, the body and the journey towards freedom. Her work has allowed her to be featured in art exhibitions and be published in multiple youth magazines. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing at OCAD University.

Chauncey Downer-Hincks is a first-year OCAD University in the Creative Writing program and has a certificate in English Literature and Popular Culture from Ryerson University. Focusing predominantly on poetry, with intentions to expand into other mediums, she explores language as a form of expulsion, intertwining visions of the mind to produce a cathartic experience of thoughts, visualizations and individuality.

Ehiko Odeh is a multidisciplinary artist born in Lagos, Nigeria and living in Toronto. She explores decolonization, health and wellness in her work. A 2021 graduate of OCAD University’s Drawing and Painting program, Odeh has shown work in Lagos and Toronto. Her artistic style is characterized by an expressive palette that uses a variety of textiles. Her practice emulates elements of traditional Nigerian craft, which manifests as large-scale, multi-medium paintings, performances, drawings and installations.

Bidemi Oloyede is an emerging street and portrait documentary photographer born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Now living and working in Toronto he uses black and white film to capture both vulnerable and vibrant images that tell a story about his subjects and community. He combines his passion for the historical medium of photography with his interest in the human condition. Oloyede graduated from OCAD University in 2020 with a BFA in Photography.