Panel Discussion: Release: Towards an unburdening

Presented in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, the Cinema Studies Institute, and the Art Museum, the panel opens with a sonic introduction by Michael Shand, Sekou Lumumba, James Rhodes, Etric Lyons and Richard Grossman, and concludes with a poetic outro by poet, Bisharo Farah. This event is programmed by Ingrid Jones.

About the Panelists and Performers

La Tanya S. Autry is an art historian, educator, curator, and writer who believes in making cultural work liberatory praxis. She co-produced the global movement Museums Are Not Neutral and has created exhibitions and programming via institutions and independent projects.

Chantal Gibson is an award-winning writer-artist-educator living on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish Peoples. Working in the overlap between literary and visual art, her work confronts colonialism head-on, reimagining the BIPOC voices silenced in the spaces and omissions left by cultural and institutional erasure. Her altered texts, installations and graphic poetry collections bring a critical lens to the historical mis/representation Black womanhood across cultural media. She is the author of How She Read (2019) and with/holding (2021).

Ingrid Jones is an independent curator, creative director, and multidisciplinary artist whose practice critically examines marginalization and refusal, particularly the erasure of Black scholarship, the commodification of Blackness, and the unseen labour of BIPOC artists and cultural workers. Her notable exhibitions include Liberation in Four Movements (2024), Nostalgia Interrupted (2022), Wild Rose (2018), IDENTITY (2018), and Poor But Sexy: The Outtakes (2010). Jones has developed lectures and masterclasses for Sheridan College and Toronto Metropolitan University, focusing on photography, art direction, and the interplay between art movements and sociopolitical events. She has received the Reesa Greenberg Curatorial Studies Award for research excellence and was nominated in 2023 for Exhibition of the Year over 20K by Galeries Ontario Galleries. Her collaborative work and writing have appeared in Globe Style, Computer Arts Projects UK, Vice Berlin, Waddington’s, and Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education.

Tanya Lukin Linklater undertakes embodied inquiry in rehearsal, performance, works for camera, installation, works on paper, and writing. Her recent exhibitions include Aichi Triennale, Japan; Gwangju Biennale, South Korea; New Museum Triennial, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Toronto Biennial of Art. Inner blades of grass (soft) (cured) (bruised by weather), including works from the last ten years and new commissions, was presented by the Wexner Center for the Arts in summer 2024. Her Sugpiaq homelands are in southern Alaska. She lives in Nbisiing Anishnaabeg aki.

Lise Ragbir has dedicated her 20-year career to creating access to a range of art experiences. She has worked with corporate and public collections, non- and for-profit organizations, and organized exhibitions featuring artists Dawoud Bey, Genevieve Gaignard, Jacob Lawrence, and Deborah Roberts, among others. She is the co-editor of Collecting Black Studies: The Art of Material Culture (2020), and her essays about race, identity, immigration, and cultural representation have appeared in Hyperallergic, Frieze, Artnet, The Guardian, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Boston Globe and other publications. Lise is a graduate of Harvard University’s Museum Studies program.

Bisharo Farah is a Tkaronto-based Somali poet, deeply inspired by her cultural roots and the art of storytelling. Drawing from the rich traditions of Somali poetry, Bisharo’s work reflects a profound connection to heritage and a passion for amplifying diverse voices. As the founder of Poetry Decoded, she curates inclusive spaces where poets and writers come together to share their stories, fostering a community that celebrates vulnerability, creativity, and personal narratives. Through Poetry Decoded, Bisharo aims to support emerging writers and elevate the power of spoken word, creating intimate spaces that encourage the exchange of stories and the celebration of diverse experiences.