‘Slavery does not end with the stroke of a pen’ – Cameron Bailey

“Slavery does not end with the stroke of a pen; it bleeds through generations.”

John Henry, Patrice Barnes and Cameron Bailey

So said Cameron Bailey, Chief Executive Office, and Artistic Director of The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in a keynote address at a recent “special event” in Durham, Ontario to mark Black History month.

Speaking at “Together We Rise Durham: Excellence Through the Arts”, held at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Bailey recalled having to read aloud in a grade five class in Canada, passages from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

He said that the book was written by Mark Twain as “a moral tale against racism” but it failed to avoid “the most demeaning stereotypes of Black people” and was held as “an artistic masterpiece.”

“When you take in a story or any creative work, a painting a piece of music, a movie, it becomes yours through your eyes, your ears, your mind, your soul and the more you take it in, the more you drink from the widest and the deepest rivers of art you can

find,” he told the audience.

“And when you are put in a context like that classroom set up to humiliate you, the work of art can create a wound that festers, but it can also become a fire that drives you,” he said.

“So I keep seeking out new knowledge through books at university. I discovered Black American thinkers and cultural critics. And I discovered through reading these authors how racism is connected to other forms of repression, to misogyny and homophobia,” he added.

 

He said he also “discovered film at university.

“One film that really made a huge impression on me was Black Girl by a Senegalese filmmaker. It’s the story of a woman who leaves Senegal and goes to work for a white family in France.”

“Art can heal. Art can lift up all of us who have been left out of the mainstream culture by the movies, books, TV shows, and music around us. That was one of the most important lessons I have learned and I am still trying to apply that lesson to my work,” he added.

Hosting the “special event” was the Regional Municipality of Durham in partnership with Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS), City of Pickering, Municipality of Clarington, Canadian Jamaican Club of Oshawa, The Power to Be International, Congress of Black Women – Oshawa/Whitby and DurhamOne.

John Henry, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Durham Region, said he was “proud to see the work of Black Canadian artists on display at the Robert McLaughlin gallery as we celebrate their achievements.”

“Across the region there are many Black Canadians doing amazing and powerful work. We are grateful to the many Black community members who have chosen to make Durham region home,” he added.