Welcome to Black Arts Vancouver

Join us for our Annual General Meeting 2024 where we will be discussing where we've been in 2023, and where we're going in 2024. We hope to see you there, to RSVP please head to our Eventbrite.

Afro-Indigeneity is a term that not only refers to peoples of both Indigenous and African lineage. It is meant as a reminder to Black people that we are still Indigenous to the African continent and stewards of land ;descending from stolen and displaced peoples. Black people, as a term, is necessary for us who may or may not be aware of our exact heritage. 

The purpose of his workshop is helping our Black youth to re-think themselves as belonging somewhere even if it feels like they do not. Using printmaking, I want to encourage our youth to express their own feelings and thoughts around this term and what it means to them? Maybe even distant memories around what they think it means to be African and from the continent of Africa through intuitive pattern making to then be printed

Black Arts Vancouver’s, Chase Keetley, featured on Global News

ThemAltar

“I am wanting to create a place that takes from nature and gives a sense of calm, with pieces I’ve collected as I’ve reconciled with where I’ve been. Based on the idea that every Black person creates an Altar in their home. Places to gather, I think of the illustrative scenes set by Carrie Mae-Weems in her photography work,  The Kitchen Table Series. 

A place for you to allude, 

I want to create a setting, in which we can move forward, laying pieces down to find closure. Lighting a candle, taking a moment, blowing it out.”

-Berlynn Beam, Artist

This piece is on display at the Wa Na Wari gallery.

​We are open for drop-in visits: 

Friday 5pm-8pm 

Saturday 11am - 5pm 

Sundays 11am-5pm ​

Masks required indoors. 

Wa Na Wari is located at: ​

911 24th Ave, ​

We Lost People: Diasporic Departures 

“Staying interconnected with our ancestors is a foreign concept for most. Yet in truth, we maintain a connection to our ancestors in our own personal ways that we may or may not be aware of. Cultivating a strong spiritual connection to our ancestors has taken us centuries to get back. Slowly, we are gaining our ability to seek out and be with our ancestors in our own individual modalities. “

-Chase Keetley, Artist 

This piece is on display at the Wa Na Wari gallery.

"Placing dirt collected on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish peoples. Located in the area once Hogan's Alley, a Historic Black Neighborhood in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The earth is incorporated as a representation of the Adinkra Symbol, highlights those truths. Indigenous, and Black displacement, genocide, and continued legacies of systematic oppression by governing forces, and the disenfranchised white population of Canada. In recognition of the people We Lost, this year in violence, neglect and pandemic."

TERRAriums 

An interactive workshop that highlighted tactile learning, and independence. 

Based in the sciences, this workshop and workbook drew upon Indigenous plant species, language and uses. With participants receiving a ready-made box of TERRArium goodies, they were guided to chose from various plants harvested from Vancouver, BC and surrounding areas.

Support by Alisha Lettman (They/She) of Legacy Growers Collective, a youth-led farming organization based in Burnaby, BC. Alisha is a singer-songwriter, multidisciplinary artist, farmer whose plant knowledge is rooted in their love of food and finding sustainable ways to proving healing. Legacy Growers Collective host Indigenous plant walks for all ages and support volunteering on their Burnaby Farm.

For more information contact:

@LegacyGrowersCollective

T E R R A r i u m s 

T E R R A r i u m s 

A workshop exploring the connection of Land to People, specifically calling our our shared histories as Black “Settlers” and how that affects Black-Indigeneity. 

This day was marked for collecting supplies from Lynn Creek located in North Vancouver. This water way is home to many species of plants and animals, and flows freely from the mountains of North Vancouver. 

We collected River Rocks, and small pieces of driftwood to act as the “Hardscape” for the TERRAriums.

This Workshop is set for SEPTEMBER 10TH, and is a Family Friendly event. We welcome those aged 7-14 to enjoy a free TERRArium kit, and participate in putting together the boxes with our Black Arts Vancouver leaders Garvin Chinnia, Alisha Lettman, and Berlynn Beam. 

JAR SUPPLIES IS LIMITED, AND RESERVED FOR KIDS AGED 7-14.

BRING YOUR OWN JAR, and we’ll gladly help you fill it with local plants and creepy crawlers!

pictured: Berlynn Beam viewing Attached to My Roots, 2021

Eve Lansink’s Attached to My Roots, featured at the Cheeky Proletariat Gallery  Vancouver, British Columbia

pictured: Garvin Chinnia, Chase Keetley, Dana Qaddah

Eve Lansink’s Attached to My Roots, featured at the Cheeky Proletariat Gallery  Vancouver, British Columbia

Summer Solstice is an Exhibition Series holding space for Black and Indigenous Artist/Creatives who practice Spiritual Medicine. This practice comes in many forms and ultimately is a way of healing through intuitive modalities and traditional practices.

Eve Lansink is a Vancouver multi-disciplinary artist whose works range from sculpture to nutritional health. As a wellness professional and personal trainer, Eve sources her works for Attach to My Roots from nature. Transforming the Cheeky Proletariat Gallery Window into a display of a variety of home propagations of indoor plants. 

Eve’s collection of house plants extends to her own garden in which she’s been noted to have grown tomatoes and various flowers and herbs. Alongside her desires to cultivate greenery and life she practices Tarot/ Oracle Readings.

You can find more about Eve Lansink on Instagram at:

@Eve.trains

@TrainStripperStrong