While Black History Month approaches this February to celebrate the culture, traditions, and heritage of African-Canadians, there are still disenfranchised groups within the community that fall underneath the cracks of the system. Shaped by two communities and two cultures, African-Canadians with disabilities are rarely talked about as they are overshadowed by the able-bodied community. People like curator Gloria C Swain, a multidisciplinary black feminist artist, have seen how black artists with hidden disabilities have been excluded in society’s false narrative of normalcy. Instead of being pushed further into concealment, Swain, Tamyka Bullen, Peter Owusu-Ansah, and Kyisha Williams celebrate their lived experiences in their group exhibition called HIDDEN. During my visit, topics of intersectionality from ableism, racism to intergenerational trauma is tackled as each artist reveals their personal stories while Swain makes sure their voices heard.

The HIDDEN exhibition is held at Tangled Art + Disabilities, a space dedicated for artists with disabilities, this small but intimate gallery is situated between clusters of other galleries on the first floor of the old 401 Richmond building. When visitors first walk on the squeaky floors of the gallery, they are welcomed by Tamyka Bullen’s video work on the makeshift wall. Looking around at the white cube space, three of Peter Owusu-Ansah’s coloured grid prints can be seen on the left while Kyisha William’s shrine installation is on the right. There are two T.V.s next to the door that show sign language interpretations of the artist and curatorial statements. As the visitor walks around they begin to see Swain’s own work, from colleges, word art to painting, behind Bullen’s video. The exhibition is kept at a low light unlike the usual fluorescent gallery lighting, which creates a homely feeling. During my conversation with Swain, she emphasizes the importance of welcoming the visitors to the space by making them feel comfortable through lighting and size of the gallery. While society has not welcomed her nor the other artists, she disrupts this by welcoming all with welcoming arms. Mentioned in her curatorial statement, Swain says “We strength each other by centering our communities… celebrating our shared spaces, ideas and experiences with other like-minded individuals”.  Swain also made the conscious choice of placing her own works at the back of the gallery as a way to indicate her role as an elder in the black community. Traditionally, the elders would often protect the younger generation from the horrors they faced such as racial prejudices and post-colonialism. To represent these sacrifices, Swain positioned her work after the other artists to give them the exposure that they may need. This idea of personal sacrifice is very touching to me with with many people with an immigrant background can relate to this. In doing so, Swain’s curatorial choices was very attentive to her community as she translate these elements to the exhibition for her audience. 

Once hidden but now seen, Swain and her artist navigate through unwelcome spaces by creating their community. To uncover what is hidden in normative society, discourses need to form to disrupt damaging ideas of ableism and racism and Swain invites these discussions through her exhibition in a welcoming manner. 

Bibliography

McMullin, Kristina. “HIDDEN.” Tangled Art Disability, 8 Jan. 2020, tangledarts.org/exhibits/hidden/.