This past Sunday, September, 15, 2012, heralded the start of a new phase in my journey here in Canada. On the invitation of renowned photographer and founder of the blog afrocanadaviews.blogspot.ca, Mr. Carlos Ferguson (http://www.carlosfergusonphotography.com/), I was invited to participate in a project that would attempt to document, chronicle, narrate with a personal eye, our every day African-Canadian ‘Giants‘.
Those Canadians of African descent, who by their indomitable strength of spirit, intelligence, talents and force of conviction have managed to successfully navigate the confusing mirage that is multi-cultural Canada. The project will use multi-media platforms to create several intimate 10-15 minute portraits, beautifully crafted and designed to tell the compelling story of those ‘Giants’. With a decidedly youthful target market in mind, the mini-documentaries will clearly demonstrate the challenges these ‘Giants‘ faced and the strategies employed to overcome these challenges. The hope is to produce a product that would appeal to the young viewer by providing within those stories, meaningful sources/points of inspiration and courage.
I will fill the role of Researcher/Writer/Assistant Producer & Interviewer, a role which includes working with the rest of the team to identify any subjects of interest who fall within the parameters of the project, conducting quantitative and qualitative research on the subjects and writing/producing research briefs for the creative team.
Looking at the list we are currently working with, I can’t help but feel awed, humbled and yes, a little nervous about this opportunity to work so closely with ‘Giants‘ that I have admired from afar. Individuals like Dr. Afua Cooper, Hon. Jean Augustine, Dr. Rosemarie Sadlier to name a few. And with a deadline slated for February 2013, I will have nary the time to catch my breath this fall and winter!
Aside from the nervous feeling in the pit of my gut, I must admit to being madly excited about this project! I can’t wait to delve deeper into the lives of these stalwarts, and to learn what they have to teach me about my history and the legacy of my African heritage here in Toronto. It will also be an awesome experience to utilize some of the PR, interpersonal and communication skills I have developed over the years while at the same time acquiring a whole host of other skills particularly from the video production, photography, video editing side of journalism. (Yay!)
I will attempt as best as I can to keep you updated on my progress but as you can imagine…I’m going to be absolutely swamped quite shortly!
Wish me luck!
Trisha M.