GTA Black and Caribbean Communities raise $300,000 for Historical Photography Collection

BY STEPHEN WEIR

Earlier this month, the Art Gallery of Ontario announced that it had just purchased a significant collection of historic Caribbean photographs. The purchase would not have happened without the financial support of the Canadian Caribbean Community

Since the news broke about the purchase, people continue to talk about the story on Facebook and Instagram! The Art Gallery of Ontario’s purchase in New York of The Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs has brought more than 3,500 historical images to Canada. The photographs, taken between 1840 and 1940, are from 34 Caribbean countries including Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Colombia, and Trinidad.

This BIG art buy was made possible in part by the contributions of a group of 27 donors, the majority of whom are from Toronto, Hamilton, Brampton and Mississauga’s black and Caribbean communities. Collectively they raised over $300,000, with a lead gift from Dr. Liza and Dr. Frederick Murrell. Reporter Stephen Weir was able to get the donation story online almost as it happened, and we are glad that we did.  Since then, he has been peppered with questions from readers in North America and the Caribbean.

Last Thursday he was invited down to the AGO to join their employees in getting the first look at some of the collection. While there, Weir took the opportunity to pose three Facebookers’ question to Julie Crooks, the Art Gallery’s Assistant Curator of Photography and the catalyst for the purchase of the collection.

Former Toronto city councilor Ceta Ramkhalawansingh asked us to ask if the collection covers the full diversity of Caribbean communities: “South Asian? Indigenous? Chinese? How about the Hindu and Muslim communities? In response, Dr. Crooks gave a resounding yes and pointed to two 19th century photographs taken in Trinidad of Indo-Caribbean people on display. She did say that there are pictures of indigenous people, and all the many communities of the Caribbean, however, the pictures from the larger countries tend to be more inclusive in terms of diversity than the smaller islands.

Weir did receive a texted question from the US as to whether the photographs were taken by white Europeans or by locals. “A lot of the photographers were European from France in Guadeloupe and Martinique, English in Jamaica and so on,” said Dr. Crooks. “Most of these photographers would have had local assistants and apprentices.”

Retired professor Karl Watson contacted us from Bridgetown, Barbados to ask if the collection would be accessible to Caribbean researchers. The answer from the AGO was yes, of course, but with one complication, “Researchers will have to come to Toronto to see the pictures. There is talk of digitizing the collection and it is a timely process.”