A black man with short black hair. He is wearing a sleeveless black tank top and a gold chain with a gold pendant. His hands are clasped together as he leans over a bench.

A black man with short black hair. He is wearing a sleeveless black tank top and a gold chain with a gold pendant. His hands are clasped together as he leans over a bench.

Photo by Josh Rille

About Black Ark

A vessel. A threshold. A space for reflection.

In Black Ark, Nigerian Canadian artist Oluseye Ogunlesi explores Canada’s role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Referencing the slave ships that were built in Canada, this cathedral-like structure invites you into the hold of a ship, creating passage and revealing the fractured and erased history of enslavement in Canada. Etched into the structure, the phrase Exodus 1792 pays homage to the 1196 Free Blacks who departed Halifax in the winter of 1792 for a new beginning in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Built of wood and polished metal, Black Ark commemorates the migrations of Black people through time, space and place.

How to Experience Black Ark

Artist and Collaborators

Website

For more information on Black Ark, click HERE

Thank you

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Presented by

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With Assistance from Linda Chu and John Donald