the black experience...time & memory
king-david olajuwon, the dancing queens, 2025, 35mm film. Photo courtesy of the artist.
the sunbeamng; ams s.i.c; yellow house
Project Room
January 20–February 11, 2026
the black experience… is an experimental archival exhibition that gathers memory as a living practice rather than a fixed record. rooted in black student life at queen’s university; the project traces how stories; relationships; and forms of care move across time; shifting yet familiar. this exhibition understands memory not as something lost to the past; but as something actively made; carried; and reshaped in the present.
bringing together archival materials; photographs; film documentation; poetry; sound; and live gathering; the exhibition creates a shared space where multiple generations of black student organizing and cultural work exist side by side. established groups; emerging collectives; and individual contributors are woven together; not to flatten difference; but to reveal continuity. similar experiences appear in different forms; like the same story told in new fonts.
the exhibition is structured through an inside and outside wall; offering moments of quiet reflection alongside visible & collective expression. interactive prompts invite participation; while live recordings and performances mark the exhibition as something still unfolding.
the black experience… resists closure. it functions as both archive and invitation; asking how black memory is preserved; who holds it; and how it might remain open for those still arriving.
More information coming soon. In the meantime, visit @thesunbeamng on Instagram for updates.