It's About Time: Dancing Black in Canada 1900-1970

Project type: Contributor and Artistic Response

Date: 2018-2022

Location: Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver

Link to full interview and response: Teeanna Munro’s Harlem Nocturne, Family Archives, and Having Fun

Teeanna Munro’s spoken word video The Harlem Nocturne (2011) has been a part of It’s About Time from the beginning (2018) through a video montage on view as part of the gallery experience. My first interest in the work was that it focused on the famous Vancouver nightclub, Harlem Nocturne. What I learned over time is that Teeanna is related to celebrated artists Leonard and Thelma Gibson, among others. With the exhibition in Vancouver, it felt like the right time to connect with Teeanna about her family history, the making of The Harlem Nocturne, and what she has been up to since we first connected nearly five years ago. As part of IAT Online Community Responses, I interviewed Teeanna, and was lucky enough to hear from her first-hand about her family experiences of dancing, performing and having fun, her family archives, and the film footage she took many years ago that now contributes to the archive she is working to protect. Enjoy the interview and the surprises that Teeanna brought along!
— Seika Boye, 2022