Black Renaissance

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Nya Lewis, “To Be Black in British Columbia,” installation view in “Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots,” 2021, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver. (courtesy the Museum of Anthropology at UBC; photo by Sarah Race)

Bold statements, displayed in colourful vinyl lettering, are part of Nya Lewis’s statistical mural, To Be Black in British Columbia, which greets visitors at the start of the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s exhibition, Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots.

• “African and Black people make up 3.5 per cent of the Canadian population and 1.2 per cent of the Metro Vancouver population.”
• “African and Black people are 7.2 per cent of the adult and inmate population in federal prisons, and from 11 to 15 per cent of all inmate populations in Canada.”
• “African and Black people make up 6 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s homeless population.”

Vancouver-based Lewis, founder and director of BlackArt Gastown, a non-profit group that works to preserve and promote the contributions of Black settlers, is one of the three co-curators of the show.

“Vinyl is a hobby of mine,” she says. “I think it’s beautiful. I combined it with this great information I found in the Vancouver city archives.”

The colours are surprisingly bright and playful for such serious information. A didactic panel notes the work contrasts histories of African and Black settlement, migration and contribution with the anti-Black racism that people face.

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Maker unrecorded (Asante), Sankofa figure (Museum of Anthropology collection; photo by Skooker Broome)

It’s a good introduction to a wide-reaching exhibition by 16 contemporary artists from Vancouver and Nigeria that explores Black diasporic identities in relation to the museum’s collection from Africa and the African diaspora.

“Sankofa” is an Akan term, spoken in what is now known as Ghana, and roughly translates as “go back and get it," pointing to the idea of reaching back to one’s heritage while continuing to move ahead. The term has become a symbol of Black renaissance and pride in culture for many African and Black people, says Nuno Porto, the museum’s curator for Africa and South America. Porto is a co-curator of Sankofa, along with Titilope Salami, a UBC doctoral candidate in art history.

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Victor Ehikhamenor, “I am Queen Idia, the Angel of Kings,” 2017 (courtesy the artist)

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Maker unrecorded (Yoruba), ere ibeji (figures)

before 1965 (Museum of Anthropology collection; photo by Jessica Bushey)

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The ambitious show displays 30 works of art with more than 100 items from the museum’s collection.

Lewis says museums have not always been a comfortable place for Black people.

“Sankofa addresses the uncertain moment that many Black Canadians face when they enter a museum and encounter a historicized version of Africa,” she says. “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.”

Salami says Sankofa also smashes any illusions about a monolithic African culture, by offering “a glimpse at the endless possibilities of creativity through multiple Black lenses.”

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Michèle Bygodt, “Bia Atôbe (Nya),” 2021 (courtesy the artist)

The works range from textiles and carved sculptures to conceptual installations, such as Vancouver artist Chantal Gibson’s Souvenir, which includes a selection of souvenir spoons from around the world, each blackened with spray paint so national and cultural identifiers are obscured and their origins are unknowable. There are also photo-based works, such as Vancouver artist Michèle Bygodt’s We Are, and work by Nigerian painter Victor Ehikhamenor.

At the exit, Lewis has installed another vinyl text work, Millennial Proverb, which relays powerful messages, such as “Even when my land, language and culture is displaced, it is mine for the taking” and “A guiding light forward – permission to exist as a living ancestor.”

With much family history lost during the centuries of the slave trade, Lewis says contemporary Black artists are questioning their roots and creating new stories for themselves.

“We can decide who we are and where we fit.” ■  

Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots at the UBC Museum of Anthropology from Nov. 4, 2021, to March 27, 2022.  Vancouver artists include Berlynn Beam (Black Arts Vancouver), Michèle Bygodt, Chantal Gibson, Odera Igbokwe, Chase Keetley and Nya Lewis. Nigerian artists include Jelili Atiku, Victor Ehikhamenor, Peju Layiwola, Onome Olotu, Onosanya Onolaja and Stephen Tayo.

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