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The ROM's Here We Are Here exhibit challenges narrow ideas of blackness in Canada

Curator Julie Crooks and artist Bushra Junaid talk about the exhibit, which is shining a new light on Canada's storied relationship with its black population.
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Here We Are Here co-curator Julie Crooks and artist Bushra Junaid with host Tom Power in the q studio in Toronto, Ont. (Vivian Rashotte/CBC)

An exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto is shining new light on Canada's storied relationship with its black population. Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art is a multimedia exhibition featuring nine black contemporary Canadian artists exploring black Canadian history and identity.

Tom Power sat with co-curator Julie Crooks and featured artist Bushra Junaid about why this project happened and what it meant to examine their own history through the lens of contemporary art. 

Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art is on now at the ROM and runs until Sunday, April 22. Artists include: Sandra Brewster (Hiking Black Creek), Michèle Pearson Clarke (Suck Teeth Compositions), Chantal Gibson (Souvenir), Sylvia D. Hamilton (Here We Are Here), Bushra Junaid (Sweet Childhood), Charmaine Lurch (Being Belonging and Grace), Esmaa Mohamoud (Untitled, No Fields), Dawit L. Petros (Sign) and Gordon Shadrach (In Conversation).

— Produced by Tayo Bero

"Sweet Childood" is an installation by artist Bushra Junaid in the Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ont. (Evan Mitsui/CBCNews)
 following the broadcast.
Artist Bushra Junaid standing in front of her installation "Sweet Childhood" at the Royal Ontario Museum's Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art exhibit. (Evan Mitsui/CBCNews)

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