Deanna Bowen: Black Drones in the Hive

Curated by Crystal Mowry. Originally produced by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, the exhibition Black Drones in the Hive unfolds in a series of visual chapters to reveal the strategic erasures which have enabled Canadian canons such as the Group of Seven to exist without question or complication. The exhibition draws its title from a racist assessment of William Robinson, a Black journeyman, as written by a city official in Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener) in the records of the Waterloo County House of Industry and Refuge (1869–1950). This sentiment echoes the centuries-long project of devaluing Black labour and the promise of autonomy.  Combing historical texts, petitions, and archives ranging from the local to international, Bowen weaves together narrative threads of migration, power networks, and hierarchies of remembrance.

Date: Through February 16, 2025
Time: Visit https://artwindsoressex.ca for admission fees as well as dates and times of availability.
Location: Art Windsor-Essex, 401 Riverside Dr. W., Windsor