We’ve Been Here All Along Workbook Available Now!
Our new online exhibit We’ve Been Here All Along: Uncovering BC’s Black History shares stories of adventure and perseverance from historic and contemporary Black communities.
Coquitlam Heritage is pleased to present our We’ve Been Here All Along Workbook that highlights just a few of the numerous contributions Black British Columbians have made to our collective history. To download the PDF version of the workbook click here. We are also printing a limited number of workbooks for distribution to educators around the Lower Mainland. Stay tuned for the launch details of the printed version next week.
We partnered with the talented artist illustrator Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe to create the artwork for us.
Edge is a queer Nigerian-Canadian woman currently based in Vancouver. She has lived in various places, from Africa to the South Pacific, giving her a unique perspective on the world and her art. Her work is primarily figurative with a focus on ornamentation. She also aims to help add to the positive representation of black women, to combat the pervasive negative stereotypes that are constantly applied to them.
Edge has created public art through the Van Mural Fest and she graciously answered a few questions for us to celebrate the launch of the workbook.
Coquitlam Heritage: Do you enjoy the process of bringing real people to life in your art?
Edge: I find it incredibly fascinating learning more about different people, their thoughts, experiences, and the world and events they lived through!
I think it’s so amazing that we’re able to gain insight into so many people’s experiences throughout the ages, and I love how doing so opens us up to new understandings that we may never have gained otherwise.
On the more technical side, working to capture or interpret the likeness of a person when drawing/painting is a really interesting challenge, and I find these projects so impactful for growing as an artist.
The overall process can also be a bit nerve-wracking though, as throughout I’m very conscious of the fact that I am depicting a real person, and the responsibility that holds. I always hope that my resulting artwork is able to, in some small way, echo the person’s spirit, and honor their existing presence or memory.
Coquitlam Heritage: What fact(s) do you think people would want to know about the people/places featured in the workbook?
Edge: Rather than a specific fact, I keep circling round to this one point I feel is important to emphasize:
These are real people, real places, real histories.
It feels like a really obvious thing to say, but I think it can be so easy for the words we read on a page to remain in this abstract, detached space in our minds. Particularly when this involves learning about communities and past/currently-lived experiences that are so disparate from one’s own.
And so I’d like to ask people to focus on keeping this at the forefront of their minds as they go through the workbook.
For specific facts however, I think people would enjoy the Black Strathcona YouTube channel. They’ve crafted compact yet impactful videos, highlighting historic people and places in Black Vancouver such as Barbara Howard, and Hogan’s Alley.
Coquitlam Heritage: What do you hope students will take away from this workbook?
Edge: Not only have an untold amount of marginalized voices and histories been crushed and buried under colonization, but societal awareness of this ongoing suppression remains tragically lacking.
I hope that students will not only become consciously aware of the real people and information portrayed in this workbook, but that they will also see this as a starting point that inspires them to dig deeper into unearthing these hidden histories.
REMEMBER HOGAN’S ALLEY MURAL LOCATED AT 258 UNION STREET, VANCOUVER
Thank you, Edge, for your beautiful work on this project. To view Edge’s art in person, visit 258 Union St, Vancouver to see her Remember Hogan’s Alley mural, or her Flower Crown mural at 1168 Robson Street. And visit the links below to support her work online.
Website: https://www.artofedge.com/
Instagram: @artofedge