Reposition
The Embassy of Canada is currently featuring the “Reposition” exhibit, showcasing artwork by Toronto-based artist Gordon Shadrach. The exhibit examines how we look at Black history in North America. It encourages viewers to consider what the promise of freedom looked like to formerly enslaved people, the systems that were put in place to prohibit that freedom, and the often ignored part of history that informs the present and the direction of the future.
The exhibit looks at a re-imagined past where the systemic barriers that marginalized segments of society and prohibited wealth and limited the extensions of bloodlines did not take hold. By painting Black Loyalists dressed in their redcoat uniforms anachronistically paired with basketball jerseys and portraits of Victorian and Edwardian sitters, Shadrach encourages us to question the ways that success is measured in our culture and reminds us of practices in North America that were put in place as barriers to success and development.
The exbibit is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm free of charge at 501 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. We hope to see you there!