Black Diasporas Tkaronto-Toronto
Black Diasporas Tkaronto-Toronto celebrates the spectrum of Black life and Black people in this city, defined in the project as people of African ancestry who have been brought by force or made their way by choice to Canada since the colonization of the Americas.
client:
afrOURban in collaboration with The Museum of Toronto
Supported by:
Social Innovation Change Initiative – Harvard Kennedy School, Charles Street Video, it’s OK, Black Architects and Interior Designers Association
Location:
it’s OK
Tkaronto-Toronto, ON, Canada
The Museum of Toronto
Tkaronto-Toronto, ON, Canada
University of Toronto, Daniels School of Architecture Gallery
Tkaronto-Toronto, ON, Canada
Library and Archives Canada
Odawa-Ottawa, ON, Canada
Archives of Ontario
Tkaronto-Toronto, ON, Canada
Date:
2024-2026
Role: facilitator and designer,
community engagement,
exhibition design and curation (in collaboration with Sandra Githinji Studio),
digital tool,
installation
identifying and engaging supporters, identification and coordination of project participants, facilitation of interviews, editing of stories, exhibition component design, coordination with host (No Vacancy, Testing Grounds, National Archives of Australia) coordination of installation, programming curation and coordination.
Victorian Multicultural Excellence award for community innovation
Referencing and honouring traditional African oral narrative,1 Black Diasporas is a multifaceted, immersive, and interactive exhibit that serves as a digital and physical archive.
From the outset, we designed the exhibition with adaptability in mind, the TV boxes that showcase the stories were fabricated to be modular and weather-resistant, allowing the exhibition to be installed in both indoor and outdoor settings. The exhibition has travelled to several location.
The project community opening was at it’s OK on Queen West in Tkaronto-Toronto in September 2024, since then the exhibition has travelled to various locations and institutions in Canada. In each iteration the exhibition kit of parts, including the TV boxes, curtains, carpets and chairs have taken a different form.
The project provides the opportunity for more inclusive and nuanced community-led narratives that exemplify the diversity of the experiences of the 265,000+ people from the African diaspora living in Tkaronto-Toronto.2 Black Diasporas shares life stories that encapsulate a variety of experiences, from the joys of family life and playing as a child, to the history of little Jamaica on Eglinton and the mundaneness of catching a streetcar or bus, to the tragedy of the effects of racial stereotyping and the loss of life.
TV box for people seated on a chair
TV box for people seated on the floor (also placed on existing tables)
Large TV box for 85″ screen
Plinth TV box for 60″ touch screen
The exhibition opened at it’s OK in September 2024
The exhibition was hosted by the University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, in the Design Gallery from March – April 2025
The exhibition was hosted by the Archives of Ontario from April 2025 – February 2026
The exhibition was hosted by the Library and Archives Canada from June – September 2025
Design team:
Kholisile Dhliwayo, Sandra Githinji
Community participants:
Abi, Adeyemi, Ahmed, Alvin, Amelia, Amina, Anna, Anton, Audrey, Chris, Christine, Clement, Cliff, Courage, Eli, Erica, Gary, Georgina, Ian, Ian, Isingoma, Jahnelle, Jay, Julien, Kathy, Kwame, Michelle, Monique, Mqedani, Nala, Nuradin, Ohemaa, Omo, Patrina, Queen, Raquel, Rok, Rosemary, Sale, Sam, Samantha, Sandra, Sasha, Shirley, Sydney, Telma, Troy, Ubah, Vivienne, Zahra
Interviewers:
Abdoulaye, Abigail, Alex, Alexander, Ana, Bianca, Che, Christian, Clara, Claudine, Cliff, Daysha, Ebube, Grace-Camille, Haiat, Ian, James, Komi, Kwesi, Lindile, Lydia, Mahlikah, Marcel, Michelle, Nicholas, Nicole, Otto, Paa-Kwasi, Pulga, Ravyn, Sara, Sasha, Shemar, Tafadzwa, Tanaka, Tina, Tiyahna, Tura, Yamari, Zanira
Editors:
Mufaro Mukoki, Sydne, Barnes-Wright, Shani McKenzie, Tafyra Poyser, Temi Gina, Yasmin, Evering-Kerr
Film Directors:
Aisha Fairclough, Ayo Tsalithaba, Cazhhmere Downey, Chelsea Nyomi, Isabel Okoro, Nala Haileselassie, Raoul Olou, Roya DelSol, William Selviz, Yazid Mohamednur
Film team:
Joseph Mpalirwa, Davin Henson
Project Advisory:
Farida Abu-Bakare, Joseph Mpalirwa, Sandra Githinji, Tura Cousins-Wilson
Museum of Toronto team:
April Hazan, Bria Dietrich, Davin Henson, Heidi Reitmaier, Julie Suh, Rachel Hilton, Sarah Tumaliuan, Nadine Villasin Feldman
AfrOURban team:
Kholisile Dhliwayo, Monica Nawanga, Phillip Johnson, Sandra Githinji, Tarirai Chivore
Photography and videography of exhibition:
Fifo Adebakin
Fabricators:
TV boxes – Dylan Moore Studio
Curtain Track fabrication – Mcwood Studios
Decal – UB Signs
Printing newspapers – Printkia
References:
1 Kalu. (2000). African literature and the traditional arts: speaking art, molding theory. Research in African Literatures, 31(4), 48.
2 Statistics Canada – 2021 census https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/fogs-spg/page.cfm?topic=10&lang=E&dguid=2021A00053520005
This project took place on the lands of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, lands that are now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.