Faculty of Art

Cross-Disciplinary Art: Life Studies

Pixel Heller

Black History Month Digital Exhibition

This exhibition opportunity invited 4 artists from the OCAD U community to exhibit their work on five Yonge-Dundas Square digital screens for the duration of 2024’s Black History Month. This year’s theme was celebration aiming to showcase the Black culture with a wide range of community activities and events hosted at the Square. Through this time-based work I explore Carnival and Black joy, making celebration at the heart of it all. This moment allowed me to showcase my work on a large scale, adding to the representation of the mask and my work. Yonge and Dundas serves as a bustling hub of activity, characterized by skyscrapers, bustling sidewalks, and a constant stream of pedestrians and vehicles, often referred to as Toronto's Times Square. The screens displayed my interpretation of celebration and Black joy for all of Toronto to see as an act of resistance and power. Black joy ideology recognizes that despite these historical obstacles, Black individuals have found ways to experience joy and celebrate their culture. By embracing and amplifying Black joy, I aim to reclaim agency, and self-expression that have been historically denied by our people. The power of Black joy lies in its ability to disrupt narratives of oppression and reclaim spaces where Black joy has been suppressed or overlooked. It emphasizes the resilience of the Black community in the face of adversity.This opportunity was made possible through the Black History Digital Exhibition Call for Artist Career Launcher.Photographed by Uzoma Ekpunobi

“This moment was crucial as it showed the importance of celebration and belonging to the last, current, and next generation of our people. We must not forget the past in order to bring a better future. Black joy is powerful. ”