There is nothing optional about the 'Black Experience': Teaching and Black Queer Joy in the Classroom
Jeremiah Mondesir, The City Never Sleeps. From An Ode to the Negro Renaissance (ONR). © Jeremiah Mondesir 2023
There is nothing optional about the 'Black Experience'
Teaching and Black Queer Joy in the Classroom
Event Information
DATE
Monday, February 26, 2024
TIME
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, with the artist talk and Q&A from 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
LOCATION
Hybrid/DCC 707/709
This Black History Month, the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) is excited to expand on our commitment to nurturing Black pedagogies, fostering Black studies, and addressing anti-racism, particularly anti-Black racism. Join us for our event, "There is nothing optional about the 'Black Experience': Teaching and Black Queer Joy in the Classroom," as we talk with Toronto photographer, Jeremiah Mondesir about critical pedagogies of Black queer joy and art within the post-secondary classroom, punctuated by an exploration of their photography series, An Ode to the Negro Renaissance (ONR).
An Ode to the Negro Renaissance (ONR)
An Ode to the Negro Renaissance (ONR) is a celebration of Black Queer joy, love, and community. In the words of poet Toi Derricotte, “Joy is an act of resistance.” During a time of increasingly Anti-Queer and Anti-Black rhetoric and policy, along with a lifetime of prosecution, the continued existence and therefore resistance against white supremacy by Black Queer folk is firmly ingrained in our ability to sustain joy and love throughout our communities. Across time and space, Black Queer folk have never forsaken art. Inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and American artist LaToya Ruby Frazier, this photo series aims to mend the gap between theory and praxis by creating and believing in a world where Black Queer joy is not only radically transformative but also a path to healing.
ONR is an invitation to take a glimpse into this world of Black Queer Joy, and the magic that it beholds. For this series, Mondesir has chosen a final set of 20 photographs that paint a portrait of Black Queer Joy in Toronto. To create a juxtaposition of contemporary and classical, they surround the studio portraits with scenes from Toronto’s Queer nightlife shot on 35mm film. The goal of this juxtaposition is to create an experience that combines the old and the new to create something more. As Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality,” Black Queer folk experience the world with interweaving and overlapping systems of oppression. Therefore, the resistance to this must also be multifaceted and interconnected.
"This series serves as an active attempt to build and preserve the legacy of Black Queer Canadians. Art is key to documenting the social conditions of our era. This is why my work centres on Black Queer folk, as a direct opposition to the agents of white supremacy. The erasure of Black, Indigenous, and Queer livelihood is one of the greatest architects of white supremacy. In the face of this, we must memorialize our legacies through art. To memorialize our communities is to engrave ourselves on the face of history."
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TMU instructors and staff are invited to share their experiences discussing race, gender, and sexuality in the classroom. Results of this anonymous survey will help inform the Centre's creation of a live-actor simulation (LAS) centering racialized and queer students.
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About the Artist
Jeremiah Mondesir considers themself a storyteller, who is able to use different art mediums to weave tales. At 23 years old they love to discover and create stories that are kept from the canon of what we understand to be Black history. Being born in the United States to two Haitian parents, and then moving to Canada at the age of 10 has allowed them a unique perspective on Black culture and more importantly Black joy across North and Central America. As a Black Queer artist, their work reflects their hopes and dreams for a world that is better than the one we currently live in. They believe that art is key to documenting the social conditions of our era. That the erasure of Black, Indigenous, and especially Queer livelihood is one of the greatest architects of white supremacy. In the face of this, they aim to join the fight to memorialize Black Queer legacies through art.
Follow Jeremiah Mondesir on Instagram (external link)
Photo by Anthony Gebrehiwot or TonyxTones.
This event was planned in partnership with the Black Faculty and Staff Community Network and is sponsored by:
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