ROM Celebrates Black History Month with Dynamic Event Line-up

Special Carnival Edition of #FNLROM on February 6
Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity exhibition opens on January 31
Screening of Thomas Allen Harris's film Through a Lens Darkly on February 17
Famed New York DJ Kid Capri visits the ROM on February 22

TORONTO, Jan. 29, 2015 /CNW/ - The ROM celebrates Black History Month, presented by CIBC with a full calendar of events to recognize Africa's rich heritage and histories. Highlights include a new exhibition, Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity which opens on Saturday, January 31, in the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada, Level 1. This installation by Karin Jones, a Vancouver based artist and a descendant of the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia, features a Victorian mourning dress, adorned with braids and surrounded by natural cotton buds. The dress is intended as an expression of the artist's perspective on African-Canadian culture and belongingness. Worn was selected from a call for proposals for artists from the African Diaspora as part of the ROM's Of Africa initiative

Additional ROM Black History Month programming includes:
February 6	ROM Friday Night Live Encore: Carnival
	Presented by Ford of Canada and supporting sponsors Peroni Nastro Azzurro, and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
	7:00 pm - 11:00 pm
	For one night only #FNLROM returns with winter to celebrate Carnival. Tickets to #FNLROM are $12 General, $10 Students/Seniors, free for ROM Members.
	This edition of #FNLROM, ROM partners with fashion designer/curator, Chinedu Ukabam for our inaugural culinary event, Kitchen Conversations: Palattes of Africa - Carnival, a unique exploration of cuisine from South America and the Caribbean - with its roots in West Africa. Included in the event is a dinner with a menu developed in collaboration with renowned New York-based chef Pierre Thiam who will also be on hand to prepare and introduce his creations.  Tickets to Kitchen Conversations are $50 General, $45 ROM Members (all tickets include admission to #FNLROM).
February 7	Discovery Corner - Carnival
	11:00 am - 3:00 pm, Free with ROM General Admission
	Discover worldwide Carnival traditions with artifact touch tables, art projects, and scavenger hunts that tell the stories and history of Carnival traditions from around the world.
February 17	ROM Speaks: Thomas Allen Harris, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
	7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, Eaton Theatre
	A critically acclaimed documentary that looks at the ways African American communities used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography until present day. This screening is followed by a talk with the film's award-winning director and filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris. We want YOU to choose the #1 photo and the ROM Photographer of the Year! Vote by clicking "Like" on your favourite photo, the one with the most likes wins! Voting will remain open until noon on Sunday, November 23rd - join us to see the winner announced and for this opportunity to see through our eyes as we explore and explain our world! ‪#‎ROMwpy‬.
	Tickets are $20 General, $18 ROM Members/Students/Teachers
February 22	ROM Daytime: In Conversation with DJ Kid Capri
	2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Eaton Theatre
	An afternoon with Kid Capri, New York's legendary DJ and Grammy-winning producer, in conversation with hip-hop attorney, author and podcast host, Combat Jack. Program presented by Manifesto Community Projects & the ROM.
	Free event, for details visit: http://www.rom.on.ca/en/activities-programs

SOCIAL MEDIA
Like: ROM Facebook
Tweet:  @ROMToronto  @ROMContemporary @ROMWorld Art and Culture #ROM100 #ROMOfAfrica
Watch: ROM YouTube

Of Africa stems from an original idea of independent curators Julie Crooks and Dominique Fontaine. Since 2013, Crooks and Fontaine have been working with ROM curator Silvia Forni to develop a platform that would enable a more open and dynamic presentation of the diversity and creativity of the African continent. With Of Africa, the curators will present and promote historical and contemporary cultural and artistic production in Africa and its Diasporas to highlight issues that impact the present and evoke the potential of an infinite future.

This program is generously supported by the William Thorsell Forum Fund.

About the ROM
The Royal Ontario Museum is an agency of the Government of Ontario.  Opened in 1914, Canada's largest museum of natural history and world cultures has six million objects in its collections and galleries showcasing art, archaeology and natural science. The ROM is the largest field research institution in the country, and a world leader in research areas from biodiversity, palaeontology, and earth sciences to archaeology, ethnology and visual culture - originating new information towards a global understanding of historical and modern change in culture and environment. For 24-hour information in English and French, please call 416.586.8000 or visit www.rom.on.ca.  Tickets are available at www.rom.on.ca

 

SOURCE ROM Royal Ontario Museum

For further information:

CONTACT
Wendy Vincent, Publicist
416.586.5547, [email protected]