Union Gallery’s ‘the black experience…time & memory’ mixed media exhibition spotlights decades of Black history at Queen’s University.
Running from Jan. 20 until Feb. 11, the exhibition reflects on the Black community at Queen’s complicated history. The multi-media showcase includes article clippings, poetry, photography, and other art forms.
Heading in from the exhibition’s outside wall, viewers see the space adorned with images and newspaper clippings atop a visual by @2being.ca, welcoming you to the space.
A collage highlighting the forgotten legacies of Queen’s Black medical students, along with progress made over time, is made up of images, newspaper clippings, and a transcript of PhD Candidate Edward Thomas’s interview with the Yellow House Student Centre for Equity and Inclusion discussing his role in bringing attention to the 1918 ban, a motion barring Black medical students’ entry to Queen’s, which hadn’t officially been rejected until 2018.
“This isn’t a project about me, but bigger than me. These are real people with real stories, dead or alive, they all had something to say,” said artist and curator King-David Olajuwon, ArtSci ’25, in an interview with The Journal. “Their stories and efforts led me to the choices that I made for this. I had to be able to dissect my artistic work to see the types of conversations it was having with the past.”
A whole corner’s dedicated to Alfred Pierce, a legendary figure in Queen’s history who acted as the football team’s assistant coach, mascot, and the field’s night keeper. This portion of the exhibit brings to light Queen’s history of exploiting Black labour; centred around the University legend’s iconic Tricoluor suit.
Elizabeth Peprah-Asare’s poem ‘Alfie’, displayed at the exhibition, highlights the exploitative nature of Pierce’s role as a mascot for the University through lines such as, “why did I have to sleep in the same room as a bear” and “you bought me suits/to be a ‘presentable mascot’ for the university/but i n-needed(sic) food.”
The poem, alongside pages from Amina Ally’s ‘Deconstructing the Queen’s Spirit’ tells visitors of the corner about the university’s exploitation of Pierce. Amongst other things, he was given only $10 CAD a week and had to share a room under the bleachers at the former Richardson Stadium, now Tindall Field, during the summers with Queen’s other mascot, Boo Hoo the Bear, who was sent to the zoo year years later for vicious behaviour.
Alfred’s story acts as a tragic reminder of the racism embedded in Queen’s history. In the winters, when he’d stay in the Jock Harty Arena’s boiler room, he wasn’t given anywhere to cook or eat; for food, he’d place a can of beans on the boilers when going to bed so it’d be prepared when he woke up.
“I hope for everyone’s curiosity to be peeked enough to know that this should be the end of their reading but a starting point,” Olajuwon said. “I hope for Black Students to feel more confident to take up more space and not feel too much like outsiders because we have been here, are here and will continue to be here. Whoever has a problem with that, has to just deal with it.”
Instead of offering a historical account of Queen’s Black History, the exhibition makes its viewers learn about these stories while being present near where it all happened. The exhibition invites the university and its community to confront it’s past in order to build a better, more inclusive future.
Tags
Art, black history month, exhibit, Gallery, Union Gallery, Visual art
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