As part of Ontario Culture Days at 401 Richmond Street West, Burnt Sugar artist Bushra Junaid will share her collage practice in a drop-in hands-on workshop. Junaid will describe how she has treated turn of the twentieth century photographs of Caribbean sugarcane workers as family portraiture; renaming and reinventing them to resist erasure. By collaging period ads onto the subjects’ clothing, she complicates understandings of Black Atlantic history.

Materials will be provided. Using paint and found materials (i.e. magazines, fabric, matte board, etc.) workshop participants will create one-of-a-kind collages that engage with the themes of the Burnt Sugar exhibition. We also encourage you to bring your own family photos, mementos, and interesting images — the better to make something truly meaningful to you.

No experience necessary, and spaces are first come, first served. If we’re full when you arrive, don’t fret, as there will be over 20 other FREE arts-focused interactive events throughout the building! The Ontario Culture Days Festival is an annual celebration of arts, culture and heritage taking place each fall across the province. This year their Toronto headquarters is located at 401 Richmond Street West, a restored, heritage-designated, industrial building turned arts-and-culture hub in downtown Toronto. It is home to over 140 artists, cultural producers, social innovators, micro-enterprises, festivals, shops, and galleries, including Critical Distance Centre for Curators.