Visiting Black on the Prairies

By Precious Gauthier (pictured, right) | Photos by author

The Black Prairies exhibit, held at The Art Gallery of Southern Manitoba in late 2024, with a second exhibit scheduled in early 2025, was curated by Alyssa Fearon. The exhibit was a beautiful way to display the artistic expression of Central Black Canadians. The exhibit centred on William "Billy" Beal, a Black man living in the Swan River Valley, who was a self-taught photographer who developed his craft by taking photos of himself and his community members. The Art Director shared a theory that he may not have, in fact, been a bachelor, but that he may have been a part of the LGBTQ community and was stuck living in the times, which were more unkind than the present day to people from that community. However, according to Dr. Karina Vernon’s The Black Prairie Archives: An Anthology, he fell in love in Swan Valley with a woman who did not reciprocate his feelings, which added to the intrigue of his story (Vernon 62). Each piece in the exhibit was beautifully crafted and spoke to the experiences of Black Canadians. The pieces that I was most affect/impacted by at The Art Gallery of Southern Manitoba were:

Beal's image of a woman in the forest is displayed in its negative. I enjoyed this image because, when looking at it, you cannot determine the woman's race, which I found powerful. The image highlights the false historical narratives around exclusively white settlement and that there were also arrivals in the Prairies by diverse populations.

And a collage of photos from Frank B. Jamerson Fond because it highlights that Black Canadian History is Canadian history. The images showed regular people living and loving in their regular lives, something which is often left out of historical narratives.

The second exhibit was hosted at the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, from January 25 to May 14, 2025. In this exhibit, Fearon included additional pieces and a short film.

Two of those pieces were by Richard Allan Thomas, which included an image of a person overlaid on the settlement of Black people in central Canada. It's a unique way to view Black people in those locations, both showing them in the space and occupying space within the Canadian state.

The short film showcased the process of restoration work completed by Leander Lane at the Shiloh Baptist Church Heritage site, which marks the location where the families who migrated from Tennessee North and Oklahoma settled in Canada. It was a space for church, learning and community. The image included is that of the descendants of those who built the church. The exhibit was a great experience that pieced together Black Canadian presences in an eloquent and meaningful way.

Thank you to CRiCS for the support during the early stages of my research journey in my Cultural Studies MA at the University of Winnipeg. The opportunity to travel to Brandon to observe the work of local scholars and artists in the Prairies significantly contributed to deepening my understanding and focus on my counter-narrative research to establish Black presences as part of Public Memory in the Prairies.