Emancipation2Africville: Triptych Still Moving |  Cyrus Sundar Singh

A Gemini Award-winning filmmaker, doctoral scholar, and musician Cyrus is also a poet, storyteller, and change-maker. Positioning himself as an AcademiCreActivist, Cyrus continues to expand and find cracks in conventional boundaries presenting his research, films, and music at numerous national and international broadcasts, festivals, and conferences.

On the foundation of his sixteen-year documentary/storytelling career, he conceived and successfully explored a new site-specific hybrid live-documentary genre, Performing the Documentary, with world premieres at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival: Brothers In The Kitchen (2016); Africville in Black and White (2017) and at the Atlantic Film Festival (2018).

Over the course of four years, I was thrust into the role of a trans-provincial storytelling messenger (TPSM) between the communities of Africville, Nova Scotia and Emancipation, Ontario. What began as a family tourist vacation to Nova Scotia in the summer of 2014 culminated, amongst other creative endeavours, in the historical meeting of the two communities at the 35th Africville Reunion in the summer of 2018.

On the final day of that family vacation in Halifax, I visited the former site of the famed Africville community and the rebuilt Seaview Memorial Baptist Church, which I had seen commemorated on a Canadian postage stamp. On arrival, to my dismay, I discovered that: 1) the former Africville site—declared a National Historic Site in 2002—was also a designated an off-leash dog park; 2) the rebuilt replica of the Church had no pews but was a church museum. These two realities led me on a critical journey through which I explored the story of Africville. Upon my return to Toronto, my exploration led me north to the 152nd Emancipation Festival in Owen Sound, Ontario—the longest running continual celebration of Emancipation in North America.

Formerly known as Sydenham, Owen Sound was the Northern Terminus of the Underground Railroad. There, since 1862, the descendants of families who sought freedom on the Underground Railroad began a family picnic to celebrate Emancipation Day, which commemorated “the British Commonwealth Emancipation Act of August 1, 1834 which abolished slavery in Canada.” This legacy continues with the 159th edition of the Emancipation Picnic in Owen Sound, Ontario to be held in August 2021.

The documentary elements consisting of 3 videos and 3 group photographs in this Emancipation2Africville: Triptych Still Moving presentation are excerpts from my continuing journey as a trans-provincial storytelling messenger between Emancipation, Ontario and Africville, Nova Scotia.

Click here for the three-part video series

Biography

A Gemini Award-winning filmmaker, doctoral scholar, and musician Cyrus is also a poet, storyteller, and change-maker. Positioning himself as an AcademiCreActivist, Cyrus continues to expand and find cracks in conventional boundaries presenting his research, films, and music at numerous national and international broadcasts, festivals, and conferences.

On the foundation of his sixteen-year documentary/storytelling career, he conceived and successfully explored a new site-specific hybrid live-documentary genre, Performing the Documentary, with world premieres at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival: Brothers In The Kitchen (2016); Africville in Black and White (2017) and at the Atlantic Film Festival (2018).

Artist Statement

Over the course of four years, I was thrust into the role of a trans-provincial storytelling messenger (TPSM) between the communities of Africville, Nova Scotia and Emancipation, Ontario. What began as a family tourist vacation to Nova Scotia in the summer of 2014 culminated, amongst other creative endeavours, in the historical meeting of the two communities at the 35th Africville Reunion in the summer of 2018.

On the final day of that family vacation in Halifax, I visited the former site of the famed Africville community and the rebuilt Seaview Memorial Baptist Church, which I had seen commemorated on a Canadian postage stamp. On arrival, to my dismay, I discovered that: 1) the former Africville site—declared a National Historic Site in 2002—was also a designated an off-leash dog park; 2) the rebuilt replica of the Church had no pews but was a church museum. These two realities led me on a critical journey through which I explored the story of Africville. Upon my return to Toronto, my exploration led me north to the 152nd Emancipation Festival in Owen Sound, Ontario—the longest running continual celebration of Emancipation in North America.

Formerly known as Sydenham, Owen Sound was the Northern Terminus of the Underground Railroad. There, since 1862, the descendants of families who sought freedom on the Underground Railroad began a family picnic to celebrate Emancipation Day, which commemorated “the British Commonwealth Emancipation Act of August 1, 1834 which abolished slavery in Canada.” This legacy continues with the 159th edition of the Emancipation Picnic in Owen Sound, Ontario to be held in August 2021.

The documentary elements consisting of 3 videos and 3 group photographs in this Emancipation2Africville: Triptych Still Moving presentation are excerpts from my continuing journey as a trans-provincial storytelling messenger between Emancipation, Ontario and Africville, Nova Scotia.

Video

Click here for the three-part video series