SFU alumni are building community at the Black Arts Centre

In the heart of Surrey, under the Skytrain tracks, is the Black Arts Centre (BLAC), an independent non-profit society, artist-run centre, and cultural hub that supports black art and artists from a variety of disciplines. The space, which is run and supported by many SFU alumni, students and faculty, hosts exhibitions, performances and events, and serves as a space of connection and community.

BLAC’s current exhibition, Within the Mould; Against the Grain, curated by Fajemisin and SFU School for the Contemporary Arts alumnus Olumoroti Soji-George, features work from Isabel Okoro, Odartey Aryee, Tati au Miel, and DeForrest Brown Jr. The exhibition, on display until February 21, uses DeForrest Brown Jr.’s seminal text, “Assembling A Black Counter-Culture" and Stuart Halls’s assertions on Black popular culture and identity as its conceptual starting point, as described in BLAC’s write-up. Including lens-based work and sonic installations, the works feature themes of “traditional spirituality, embodied knowledge, the limits of representation, global Black identity, and the tensions between appropriation, commercialization, and Black cultural production.”

Throughout February, BLAC will host a series of events in honour of Black History Month, including a group reading night on February 20, film screenings of The B.E.A.T. by Abteen Bagheri and Faaji Agba by Remi Vaughan-Richards on February 23, and an open mic poetry night on February 28. All the details can be found on the BLAC Instagram page.

“My time at SFU majoring in communication really helped me with a solid foundation in communication,” says Fajemisin. “It gave me a lot of historical context about information and disinformation which is very relevant right now, and my time at SFU allowed me to approach communication with curiosity. I've always been interested in how media affects our dominant culture. Mass communication says so much about the past, present, and future, and I think it's important to look at these things with a contemporary perspective. At the Black Arts Centre, it's allowed me to be really innovative with internal and external communications as well as telling stories through digital media.”

BLAC is run by SFU alumni who care deeply about building community and providing a space for Black artists to thrive. Alongside Fajemisin, co-directors Soji-George (MA in contemporary arts) and Hafiz Akinlusi (an SFU economics alumnus) are building a unique community with a foundation of care and collaboration. We look forward to seeing their upcoming programming. For the latest details, follow BLAC on Instagram.