Vancouver has a long history of Black cultural participation, and yet visual records are scarce or not easily available. Artspeak Director and Curator Nya Lewis will share excerpts from her ongoing research into this erasure that runs counter to the continuous cultural production by Black artists in Vancouver. In dialogue with exhibition curator Elliott Ramsey, whose own Black ancestry has been rooted in Vancouver for generations, this conversation will explore what is meant by the “Black Atlantic” – and the challenges around defining a “Black Pacific”.

About Nya Lewis
Nya Lewis’ hybrid practice is a culmination of centuries of African resistance, love, questions, actions, study and embrace rooted in the theorization of the conditions of Black cultural production. The artist sees her practice as a continuation of a long lineage of work undertaken by Black artists, curators, writers, activists and thinkers who blaze(d) a trail of critical discourse surrounding the Black experience. Lewis’ creative practice reflects upon the diversity of Black diasporic experiences and its many forms of expression. As such, she works across the disciplines of art making, curating and writing. Her work is multivalent in form and expression but is always driven by the reimagining and reclaiming of community.