Artivism and Storytelling: Who gets to tell Black queer stories?

Sapphire Woods (they/them) is a Black queertrans gender-nonconforming community-based researcher, care worker, archive enthusiast, and lover of food medicine and herbalism. Their work in research and education mainly investigates, collects, and builds accessible resources to share accurate information about trans and gender-diverse stories - particularly focused on African and Afro-descendent diaporas' gender-expansive histories and possible futures. Sapphire's passion project, GroundScapes, is an interactive archive and garden experience bridging access to knowledge that comes with land stewardship. Outside of working, Sapphire loves making soup, watering their plants, reading, and taking naps.

Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo (they/them) is an emerging multimedia visual activist scholar whose practice extends between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal, QC) and N’Swakamok (Sudbury, ON). 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 for an active decolonization of every facet of their life, supporting calls to defund the police, abolish the prison industrial complex, and for liberation in our lifetime. 
They have taken on many leadership roles, as an artist, activist and academic, creating space for people of colour and continually promoting anti-racist practices and social justice. Ra’anaa is 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 their 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.