Union station exhibit celebrates Black artistry

Through the halls of the country’s busiest train station, a mosaic of paintings and photographs stands tall amongst the walls for a new exhibit highlighting the work of Black artists.

“Black creativity and Black art really enriches our spaces and really enriches our culture,” said Trevor Twells, Founder of Make Room Inc., who collaborated with TD on the project.

That enrichment, Twells said, inspired A Transit Through Time exhibit.

“We wanted to honour those who came before us, the movers, the shakers, and those before us, the revolutionaries because those are the giants, Black creativity has permeated the culture for centuries, and we asked artists to explore this concept, and came up with this amazing exhibit.

Of the more than 100 artists who submitted their work, six were chosen to be a part of the project.

The artists include Destinie Adélakun, Pixel Heller, Segun Caezar, Heritier Bilaka, Rico Poku and Camille Kiffin.

“I initially created this body of work in 2023, and as artists, we’re always on the go, and we create work, and we kind of like never get a chance to reflect back on it and I think just being able to showcase this work in a public setting, 300,000 people get to grace it every single day, it’s a monumental moment and I’m super excited about it,” said Adélakun.

Adélakun moved to Canada from India when she was just 11 years old, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Nigerian father she says it was the history of her ancestors and reconnecting with her Nigerian heritage that inspired her work.

“Our global history is so surrounded by black history although we only get a month to celebrate it, so I wanted to think about what does relocation look like if our ancestors came here as free people – what would our place look like, our societal status, Black and brown people if they came here,” said Adélakun

The art exhibit, located on the first floor of Union Station, is free to attend and runs until August 31.