top of page

CELAFI'25: HISTORY & LEGACY

CELEBRATING AFRICAN IDENTITY

WINTER EDITION 2018:

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

CELAFI 1992 & 1997 Conference & Festivals brought together artists, programmers and academics in an unprecedented forum. 

To celebrate CELAFI'25 looks back at

TWENTY-FIVE  C'25 alumni

Highlighting their works THEN & 

Showcase these artists works NOW

Check out WHAT'S ON  >

and below the CELAFI Artists NOW 

Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison,
Charmaine+Lurch_edited
Sylvia Hamilton pic
Sharon Lewis
RUDE
Michael Chambers
Michael Chambers
Itah-Sadu-photo-300x300
Vivine Scarlett- FounderCurator
Alfons Adetuyi

INSIDE CELAFI'25

CELAFI 1992 & 1997 Conference / Festivals in Celebration of African Identity brought together academics, artists, advocates and patrons from across Canada and around the world to present, and challenge each other in public discussion.

 

Twenty five years later we celebrate in conjunction with Canada's 150th with the launch of the CELAFI'25 Digital Archive. is a repository dedicated to collecting, preserving and making available data that evidences the artistic contributions of Black Canadians to the Canadian mosaic and the historically cultural significance and lasting impact of their gifts.

 

The CELAFI'25 Archive commemorates and documents what was an explosive tour de force of creativity by Black  Artists and their international contemporaries that filled a collective ten official days with music, dance, theatre, fashion, visual art, literature, oral tradition, body adorning, wearable art, film and video, forums and workshops. 

HERE WE ARE HERE
The 3rd Annual BLACK MEN IN THEATRE
kuumba-now
Brown Girl Begins by Sharon Lewis
Dance Immersion: Stories In Motion
Love Jacked by Alfons Adetuyi
Michael Chambers’s Shadows to Silver
2. TRANSFORMING THE IMAGE- cover

2. TRANSFORMING THE IMAGE- cover

word-up1_edited

word-up1_edited

Black essentials _ Ita

Black essentials _ Ita

CELAFI'25 Video Introduction
CELAFI'25 Collection
Artis Lane, Sculpture
Jan Crick - Vancouver
AYANNA BLACK (1931 - July 21, 2009)
CELAFI'25 Archive
Austin Clarke
C'25 Offices
C'25 Archive: Research Garden
CELAFI '92 & '97Venues

CELAFI'25 website is a comprehensive archive and publicly accessible resource that permanently imprints on Canada's public record the cultural and artistic body of work contributed by Black Canadians as the neared the 21st century . 

CELAFI's landmark conference and festivals dug deep into the roots of Africa art aesthetics, and emanated the many thriving branches as they sprang forth and blossomed in every art form around the world. The site contains roughly 150 artifacts from over 100 events and over 1000 participants from CELAFI 1992 & 1997, including - artwork, exhibition catalogues, publications, curatorial statements, programming essays,  bios, articles and more

Ayanna Black
clarke_george_elliott
simon_njami_by_david_damoison_large_1
artis Lanephoto_edited
Austin Clarke, Author
Nkiru Nzegwu_edited
D'Janet Sears
2. Revue Noire book_Page_080_edited_edited
Clement Virgo
Glace Lawrence
conference image
Phylis Walker
Alfons Adetuyi
Dawn Wilkinson
geoffrey2_edited
2. Revue Noire book_Page_046_edited
Itah Sadu
GlobeAndMail 1997_CELAFI Review
Gregory Isaac
Buseje Bailey
Cameron Bailey
COBA
Lawrence Hill
Michael Chambers

The initial archive was assembled from three private collections, it is also a work-in-progress.  We invite you to exploreshare and contribute.

WINTER PREVIEW:

Each season we showcase a series of artifacts from the CELAFI'25 Archive.

SPRING 2018

Each season we invite you to experience CELAFI's past both online  and real world

bottom of page