Royal Ontario Museum celebrates Black History month with dynamic event line-up

(News Release)

Special Carnival Edition of #FNLROM on February 6

Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity exhibition opens on January 31

Screening of Thomas Allen Harris’s film Through a Lens Darkly on February 17

Famed New York DJ Kid Capri visits the ROM on February 22 

TORONTO – The ROM celebrates Black History Month, presented by CIBC with a full calendar of events to recognize Africa’s rich heritage and histories.

Highlights include a new exhibition, Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity which opens on Saturday, January 31, in the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada, Level 1.

This installation by Karin Jones, a Vancouver based artist and a descendant of the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia, features a Victorian mourning dress, adorned with braids and surrounded by natural cotton buds.

The dress is intended as an expression of the artist’s perspective on African-Canadian culture and belongingness. Worn was selected from a call for proposals for artists from the African Diaspora as part of the ROM’s Of Africa initiative

Additional ROM Black History Month programming includes:

February 6                             ROM Friday Night Live Encore: Carnival

Presented by Ford of Canada and supporting sponsors Peroni Nastro Azzurro, and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

For one night only #FNLROM returns with winter to celebrate Carnival. Tickets to #FNLROM are $12 General, $10 Students/Seniors, free for ROM Members.

This edition of #FNLROM, ROM partners with fashion designer/curator, Chinedu  Ukabam for our inaugural culinary event, Kitchen Conversations: Palattes of Africa - Carnival, a unique exploration of cuisine from South America and the Caribbean - with its roots in West Africa. Included in the event is a dinner with a menu developed in collaboration with renowned New York-based chef Pierre Thiam who will also be on hand to prepare and introduce his creations.  Tickets to Kitchen Conversations are $50 General, $45 ROM Members (all tickets include admission to #FNLROM).

February 7                             Discovery Corner – Carnival

11:00 am – 3:00 pm, Free with ROM General Admission

Discover worldwide Carnival traditions with artifact touch tables, art projects, and scavenger hunts that tell the stories and history of Carnival traditions from around the world.

February 17                           ROM Speaks: Thomas Allen Harris, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

                                                7:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Eaton Theatre

A critically acclaimed documentary that looks at the ways African American communities used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography until present day. This screening is followed by a talk with the film’s award-winning director and filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris.

                                                Tickets are $20 General, $18 ROM Members/Students/Teachers

                       

February 22                           ROM Daytime: In Conversation with DJ Kid Capri

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Eaton Theatre

An afternoon with Kid Capri, New York’s legendary DJ and Grammy-winning producer, in conversation with hip-hop attorney, author and podcast host, Combat Jack. Program presented by Manifesto Community Projects & the ROM.

Free event, for details visit: http://www.rom.on.ca/en/activities-programs

100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON Canada M5S 2C6 T 416.586.8000 www.rom.on.ca