BLACK PRAIRIES | Of a Place

Winter 2025 at Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

Rosa and Mary, Amber Valley, Alberta c. 1940, black and white photograph, 5 x 6 cm. Frank B. Jamerson fonds, courtesy City of Edmonton Archives.

BLACK PRAIRIES

February 1 – May 14, 2025
Dunlop Art Gallery (Central Library)
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Curated by Alyssa Fearon

BLACK PRAIRIES honours more than one hundred years of Black/African-Canadian cultural production in the Prairies, spanning the 1920s to the present, with a focus on lens-based media. The exhibition includes newly commissioned contemporary artwork, original glass plate negatives by early 1900s Black Manitoban photographer William “Billy” Beal, and archival photographs from the City of Edmonton’s Frank B. Jamerson fonds.

Beal’s glass plate negatives, taken between 1915 and 1925, document homesteading life in western Manitoba from the perspective of a lone Black man living in an all-white rural township during the early 1900s. Meanwhile, the photographs in the Frank B. Jamerson fonds, created by unnamed photographers, depict everyday Black life in and around Amber Valley, Alberta—a historic community formed during the Great Black Migration of 1910. This migration saw African-Americans fleeing racial violence in the United States to seek refuge in the Canadian Prairies. The selected photographs in this exhibition capture the first thirty years after the migration, reflecting the experiences of the first generation of Black migrants in the region. The contemporary artists in this exhibition foster important dialogues about personal histories, a changing climate, and collective experiences in the region.

Additionally, the exhibition includes the newly created short film For Caesar by filmmaker Cheryl Foggo. The film features Leander Lane, the great-grandson of Julius Caesar Lane, a founding member of the Shiloh People, the historic African-Canadian community in Saskatchewan.

BLACK PRAIRIES provides space for communal grounding and reflection on the ongoing and ever-expanding continuum of Black life and Black cultural production in the Prairies.

Film Screening and Discussion: For Ceasar
January 31, 7:00 pm CST
In-person at Dunlop Art Gallery (Central Library)
Pre-registration not required.

A screening of the newly created short film For Caesar by Cheryl Foggo featuring Leander Lane, the great-grandson of Julius Caesar Lane of the Shiloh People, the historic African-Canadian community in Saskatchewan. After the screening, join us for a discussion with filmmaker Cheryl Foggo; Leander Lane, the great-grandson of Julius Caesar Lane of the Shiloh People; local community organizer Tiro Mthembu; and Alyssa Fearon, Director/Curator at Dunlop.

Artists’ Talk & Opening Reception: BLACK PRAIRIES
February 1, 11:00 am CST
In-person and Online at Dunlop Art Gallery (Central Library)
Pre-registration not required.

Join us for a panel discussion with artists Anna Binta Diallo, Judah Iyunade, Richard Allan Thomas, and Chukwudubem Ukaigwe at 11 am in the Community Commons to celebrate the opening of BLACK PRAIRIES.

Audi Atcheynum, Providing for the People, acrylic on canvas, 2024

Of a Place

February 8 – June 4, 2025
Dunlop Art Gallery (Sherwood Village Branch)
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Curated by Wendy Peart

The works in this exhibition are recent acquisitions to the Regina Public Library Permanent Collection and the SK Arts Permanent Collection, and are made by artists who have a connection to the Prairies. Evident in all the work, are the artists’ deep and profound relationships to family, culture, land, home, and community, which is achieved through various methods, materials, and strategies. Through playful, wry, serious, introspective, hopeful, joyous and critical approaches, the artists examine how they are situated within and what they envision for their communities. Most importantly, the works feature the powerful contribution that individual personal identities bring to the richness of a particular place.

Special thanks for the loan of artworks from SK Arts Permanent Collection.

Opening Reception: Of a Place
February 8, 1:00 pm
In-person at Dunlop Art Gallery (Sherwood Village Branch)
Pre-registration not required.
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Join us for the reception with exhibiting artists. Refreshments served.

About Dunlop Art Gallery at Regina Public Library

Central Library location
2311 – 12th Avenue
Regina, SK S4P 3Z5

Gallery Hours (CST), Central Library
Mon to Thurs, 9:30 am – 9 pm
Fri, 9:30 am – 6 pm
Sat, 9:30 am – 5 pm
Sun, 12 – 5 pm

Sherwood Village Branch location
6121 Rochdale Boulevard
Regina, SK S4X 2R1

Gallery Hours (CST), Sherwood Village Branch
Mon, Thurs, Fri, 9:30 am – 6 pm
Tues, Wed, 9:30 am – 9 pm
Sat, 9:30 am – 5 pm
Sun, 12 – 5 pm

Admission is Free to all exhibitions.
Galleries are wheelchair accessible.

306-777-6040
dunlop@reginalibrary.ca
reginalibrary.ca/dunlopartgallery

We acknowledge the support of SK Arts, and funding partners SaskCulture and Saskatchewan Lotteries, whose contributions help the arts thrive in this province.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

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