In the Presence of Absence: Invisibility, Black Canadian History, and Melinda Mollineaux’s Pinhole Photography

Abstract

In the official history of Canada, alternative Black narratives often erase the complexities of Black Canadian experiences. This article examines the pinhole photographic work of Canadian artist Melinda Mollineaux, Cadboro Bay: Index to an Incomplete History, to discuss Mollineaux’s performative act of commemorating the forgotten place of Cadboro Bay, where Black people gathered to celebrate Emancipation Day in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The photographs in the series act as material reminders of this artist’s attempt to resurrect public memories of a time and place that are intimately tied to slavery and the diasporic movement of Black people. In so doing, the article discusses the dynamics of presence and absence and the significance of what is not seen in Mollineaux’s pictures. This article features online ( http://www.cjc-online.ca ) photographs of Melinda Mollineaux’s pinhole photography.