Still Here: Contemporary Art and family history in and of Black New Brunswick

This afternoon event is a conversation about Black art and the histories of Black presence in New Brunswick. Joana Joachim will introduce her recently installed exhibition Estuaries. Graham Nickerson will argue for reconceptualizing Black agency in the archives. We will learn about the Still Here Initiative, a collective project led by spoken-word poet and writer Thandiwe MacCarthy and photographer Gary Weekes, that celebrates fifteen Black New Brunswick families through photography, oral history, and archival documents. These researchers and cultural workers are drawing our attention to the rich, multigenerational history of Black families in Atlantic Canada by making their narratives visible to wide audiences. Our speakers will be Joana Joachim (Concordia University), Thandiwe McCarthy, Gary Weekes, and Graham Nickerson (University of New Brunswick), with a special guest appearance by Mary McCarthy, executive director of REACH (Remembering Each African Cemetery’s History in NB). Martha Langford (Concordia University) moderated the discussion.