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Quentin VerCetty
Quentin VerCetty is a multidisciplinary visual artist, storyteller, art educator, and activist based in Montreal, Canada. He is also co-founder and director of the Black Speculative Arts Movement, whose foundational work with second-wave Afrofuturism provides new, inclusive, and intersectional perspectives to reimagine public spaces.[1][2]

He received his Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD), and an MA in Art Education from Concordia University.

VerCetty is also the co-editor of the first Canadian Afrofuturism art anthology, "Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Speculative Discourse and Innerstandings" (2020), which includes the contributions from 30 writers and highlights works of over 100 Black Canadian artists documenting the growing contemporary art movement of Afrofuturism in Canada.

Missing Black Technofossil Here (2020)
Missing Black Technofossil Here was developed in partnership with Goethe Institute and the American studio Monument Lab. The work uses augmented reality, digital 3D art, and printing to address the absence of public monuments of black bodies in Toronto, Montreal and other urban cities in Canada. The project exhibited works of digital, augmented reality monuments to local Black Canadian leaders, past and present, in futuristic community spaces.

Step Into History (Joshua Glover Memorial) (2021)
VerCetty's monument sculpture Step Into History depicts Joshua Glover, an abolitionist who arrived in Canada in 1854 through the Underground Railroad after escaping slavery.

VerCetty’s sculpture draws on composite events of Glover’s life through the lens of Afrofuturism. where Glover was depicted as "a charismatic Victorian gentleman who gazes confidently into the future while throwing away the crushing chains of slavery with his mutilated cyborg arm. Glover clutches his freedom papers and books to his chest recognizing that knowledge will set him free and provide the power and spiritual endurance to overcome past indignities and sufferings."

“The cyborg arm has chains wrapped around it and this represents the fact that Joshua Glover for the majority of his life was once enslaved in the state of Missouri. And then we see him transforming where he’s now acquiring human flesh and this represents him recognizing his humanity and people recognizing his humanity”

It was also the first monument of a person of African decent in Toronto.

Ancestral Uprising (2021)
Ancestral Uprising (2021) is an augmented reality (AR) art installation in Toronto, Ontario for the 2021 Emancipation Month. The augmented reality installation can be viewed through smart phones and shows a Black power fist with a golden base and purple hibiscus flowers. The gold represent the value of Black life and the purple represents healing and royalty.

While working on the piece, VerCetty consulted with Black and Indigenous elders to ensure he properly represent the struggles of different generations and communities. The fist features patterns and designs that were once used by the Ndebele people in South Africa during periods of colonization and apartheid to encourage people to remain resilient.

Publication
"Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Speculative Discourse and Innerstandings" (2020), Quentin VerCetty and Audrey Hudson. ISBN: 9781941958971