Black artists have been creating in this country for centuries. Canadian institutions didn't bother to look
‘Creation Insists’ features work of famous and lesser-known figures, including Austin Clarke, Sylvia Hamilton
Black Life: Untold Stories reframes the rich and complex histories of Black people in Canada, dispelling commonly accepted myths and celebrating the contributions of both famous and lesser-known individuals. The eight-part series spans more than 400 years with an eye toward contemporary issues, culture, politics, music, art and sports.
The fifth episode of the CBC docuseries Black Life: Untold Stories highlights the creativity, achievements, inspiring journeys and cultural contributions of six Black Canadian artists, some famous and some lesser-known.
"Creation Insists" explores the stories of 19th-century painters Edward Mitchell Bannister, the first Black winner of a national art prize in the U.S., and Edith Hester McDonald-Brown, thought to be Canada's first Black woman painter. Filmmakers Sylvia Hamilton and Clement Virgo and writers M. NourbeSe Philip and Austin Clarke are also profiled.
"I think it's really important that we own our stories as Black people," art curator Kenneth Montague says in the episode. "That's really what we need now: to preserve these stories and ensure their future."
WATCH | In a scene from Black Life: Untold Stories, writer Austin Clarke interviews Malcolm X on race relations in Canada in 1963.
The documentary also discusses the Royal Ontario Museum's controversial Into the Heart of Africa exhibit, critiquing its colonial perspective, and looks at the resulting protests in Toronto.
Interviewees in "Creation Insists" include:
- Cameron Bailey.
- David Chariandy.
- George Elliott Clarke.
- Afua Cooper.
- Esi Edugyan.
- Kelly Fyffe-Marshall.
- Sylvia Hamilton.
- Adrienne R. Johnson.
- Kenneth Montague.
- Charmaine A. Nelson.
- Shawn Parker.
- M. NourbeSe Philip.
- Hyacinth Simpson.
- Gaëtane Verna.
- Clement Virgo.
- Rinaldo Walcott.
- David Woods.
About director Karen Chapman
Born to Guyanese parents, Karen Chapman is an alumnus of Emily Carr University, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly The Banff Centre), Women in the Director's Chair, the CaribbeanTales Incubator, HotDocs's Doc Accelerator, TIFF Filmmaker Lab and the 2019 TIFF Accelerator.
Chapman has made VR experiences, a museum installation, television episodes and 50 short films.
Chapman's CBC Short Doc, Walk Good, won Women in Film and Television - Toronto's 2017 Audience Choice Award at their annual showcase, and her short, Lesson Injustice won the Best Screenplay Award the year after. In 2018, she also completed the Cineplex Entertainment Film Program Directors' Lab at the Canadian Film Centre and was named one of five filmmakers to watch by Playback magazine.
Chapman's love story, Essequibo Rapture, won the Caribbean Film Academy's international screenwriting competition and in 2019, received funding from Bell Media's Harold Greenberg Fund via the Shorts-to-Features Program. Her VR experience, They Should be Flowers, premiered at HotDocs that same year, and was nominated for a 2020 Canadian Screen Award for Best Immersive Experience, Non-Fiction. Her short film Measure also premiered at TIFF in 2019, after which Chapman was selected for the 2020 Hollywood Foreign Press Association residency program.
Chapman's Quiet Minds Silent Streets premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and received the award for Best Documentary at Canadian Film Fest.
She is currently working on her first feature film, Village Keeper supported by the Telefilm Talent to Watch Program, The Canadian Arts Council and the CBC.
"Creation Insists" is streaming now on CBC Gem. Watch it on CBC-TV on Nov. 22 at 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. NT).
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from features on anti-Black racism to success stories from within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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