NEW-FOUND-LANDS PROJECT KICKS OFF FALL PROGRAMMING WITH WEEKEND-LONG EVENTS | GROUP EXHIBITION | KEYNOTE SPEAKER | PERFORMANCE | ISLAND FUSION DINNER

PRESS RELEASE: Multidisciplinary art project brings together artists exploring Newfoundland-Caribbean connections

Eastern Edge Gallery
72 Harbour Dr.
St. John's, NL A1C 1B1

709-739-1882
gallery@easternedge.ca
easternedge.ca

Image credit: Wayne Salmon, On the Wharf, 2000, gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the Artist.

NEW-FOUND-LANDS: Exploring historical and contemporary connections between Newfoundland and the Caribbean diaspora

September 9 – October 18

Angela Baker, Sandra Brewster, Alison Duke, Roxana Farrell, Anique Jordan, Bushra Junaid, Wayne Salmon, Tamara Segura, Anita Singh, Camille Turner

Curated by Pamela Edmonds and Bushra Junaid

Weekend-long programming and events:

Opening Reception
Friday September 9, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Eastern Edge Gallery

Afronautic Research Lab performance by Camille Turner
Saturday, September 10 2016, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
A.C. Hunter Library
Arts and Culture Centre, 125 Allandale Road, St. John's
Admission free

Artist talks & Curatorial tour with keynote by Dr. Afua Cooper
Saturday, September 10, 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Eastern Edge Gallery

Island Fusions Dinner
Sunday, September 11, 2016, 6:00 – 9:30 pm.
Featuring Executive Chef, Kirk Myers of
Taste of Jamaica in Corner Brook, NL

Tickets $35.00 available through Eastern Edge Gallery and Eventbrite.ca
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/island-fusions-dinner-tickets-27218577498

Through performance, installation, cuisine, and an exhibition of new and existing works by Canadian-based artists, New-Found-Lands investigates historical and contemporary connections between Newfoundland and the Caribbean diaspora. This multidisciplinary project explores the 300-year history of Newfoundland-Caribbean trade in salt, cod, rum and other mercantile products; reflects on personal ties and varied histories of movement and migration; reveals connections between Newfoundland and Caribbean culture and language; and includes an Afrofuturist performance and archival laboratory which uncover buried truths about Canada's role in the transatlantic slave trade. Together this engaging work brings new perspectives to the respective islands from a diversity of practices and approaches.

Jamaican born painter, Angela Baker has lived in Corner Brook, Newfoundland since 1976. For New-Found-Lands she focuses on her upbringing and on how colonial trade and barter exploited both Jamaican sugar workers and Newfoundland fishermen Sandra Brewster’s mixed media work explores the lives of her parents’ generation: Caribbean people of African descent who immigrated to Canada in the 1960′s and 70′s. Roxana Farrell examines navigational mapping systems throughout the islands and reflects on economic, trade and tourism links between Newfoundland and the Caribbean. Emerging artist Anique Jordan's current auto-biographical photographic work looks at family history, survival of black women and the use of cultural production in gravely intimate, yet global journeys.

For this project Bushra Junaid uses rarely seen historical images and archival narratives to explore her own embodiment of African-Caribbean-Newfoundland connections. Photographer Wayne Salmon documents people and places across Africa and the Caribbean diaspora. Tamara Segura’s experimental documentary illustrates the role of music in the life of a young Cuban couple’s new home in Newfoundland. Anita Singh’s use of bright, passionate colours and the varied techniques she employs attest to her mixed Guyanese, Russian and East Indian background. Newfoundland’s natural environment also has an abiding influence on her ceramic and painted works.

rOGUE Gallery
Alison Duke
Reflection of Watas

Opening Reception
Friday September 9, 7:00 - 10:00 pm
All welcome

Camille Turner, Afronautic Research Lab, documentation of performance/installation in conjunction with Showroom, University of Toronto Arts Centre, 2016. Courtesy of the Artist and Michael Alstad.

Afronautic Research Lab performance/installation by Camille Turner with Ayoka Junaid

Saturday, September 10 2016
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
A.C. Hunter Library
Arts and Culture Centre
125 Allandale Road.
St. John's, NL

Admission free

Camille Turner, Afronautic Research Lab, documentation of performance/installation in conjunction with Showroom, University of Toronto Arts Centre, 2016. Courtesy of the Artist and Michael Alstad.

For this project multi-media artist Camille Turner will excavate local and national histories and engage the community in her ongoing consciousness-raising project. The Afronauts, are descendants of the Dogon people of Mali. They left earth 10,000 years ago and have returned home to save and heal the planet. Tackling one issue at a time, they invite citizen researchers to join them in their Afronautic Research Lab. Currently, they are confronting Canada’s historical amnesia. They do this by unveiling 18th century newspapers and inviting visitors to contemplate the ads posted by Canadian slave owners.

Artist talks/tour with keynote by Dr. Afua Cooper
Saturday, September 10, 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Join us and meet the artists and curators who will speak to the work and themes in the exhibition. Dr. Afua Cooper, Associate Professor, James Robinson Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University, Halifax will give an illustrated keynote talk that speaks to the topic of Newfoundland and New World Slavery.

Angela Baker

Ackee and Salt-Fish

2016

Oil on canvas

24" x 36"

Island Fusions Dinner
Featuring Executive Chef, Kirk Myers of Taste of Jamaica in Corner Brook, NL
Sunday, September 11, 2016, 6:00 - 9:30 pm.
Justina Centre, 108 Outer Cove Road, Outer Cove, NL
Tickets $35.00 available through Eastern Edge Gallery and also available online here:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/island-fusions-dinner-tickets-27218577498

Join us for an evening feast showcasing the shared culinary traditions of Newfoundland and the Caribbean prepared by award-winning chef, Kirk Myers. Served up with Celtic and Caribbean music including a special performance by Shelley Hamilton. Winner of the African Nova Scotian Music Association Artist of The Year award and transplanted Maritimer, Shelley Hamilton has accrued a list of accolades for her work as a singer and actor. Her rich, fluid interpretation of music blends contemporary and original elements of Latin jazz, soul and pop music.

New-Found-Lands is generously supported by Black Artists’ Network Dialogue, Ann Buttrick, Melanie Fernandez, Adiat Fae, Ayoka and Leila Junaid, Scott Masters. Dr. Kenneth Montague / The Wedge Collection, Toronto, John Ryerson and WGSI University of Toronto.

All media inquiries please contact:

Penelope Smart, Director
Eastern Edge Gallery
709-739-1882
gallery@easternedge.ca
easternedge.ca