Legacies Denied: Unearthing the Visual Culture of Canadian Slavery

An exhibition in Rare Books and Special Collections

Vernissage: Wednesday, May 22nd, 5:30pm to 7pm

This exhibition and the accompanying catalogue emerged from a fourth year undergraduate, Art History course, “Canadian Slavery and its Legacies: a Curatorial Seminar,” taught by Dr. Charmaine Nelson, Associate Professor of Art History. Working with the holdings of the Rare Books and Special Collections Library (McGill University), the students curated an exhibition, assembling a variety of extraordinary art and visual culture objects of direct relevance to Trans Atlantic Slavery. Like the course, the catalogue and exhibition contest the erasure of Canadian participation in the histories of Trans Atlantic Slavery, instead highlighting the role of Canadian art and visual culture in producing, sustaining and resisting the enslavement of people of African descent and Natives in the territories that became Canada.

Please see the Department of Art History and Communication Studies website for more information.