Artists for Season 5 on stage for a group photograph

Tuesday 13 February 2024

By Joy Osiagwu, Editorial Associate

“In Our Tongues”, the first reading series in Ottawa dedicated to promoting and nurturing Black Canadians and racialized artists, created a platform for spoken word and music enthusiasts in the Canadian Capital city to listen to performances at the Saw Art Gallery on 67 Nicholas Street on February 13.

Sarah Kabamba performing on stage

The event featured inspirational artists such as Sarah Kabamba, an emerging writer and Award-winning artist of “Room 47.1 Utopia, Yanaminah Thullah, a spoken word artist, and a few participants selected for the open microphone.

Yanaminah Thullah performing on stage.
Del Waterman and the Band on stage

It was the fifth season dedicated to the commemoration of Black History Month. The bilingual performers who cut across the gender spectrum in the community focused on themes around Jazz, resilience, survival, passion, love, and strength in adversity.

Shery Alexander Heinis, Co-Founder and Artistic Director Photo credit: Heinis

The art series was created in 2019 by the duo of Shery Alexander Heinis, a St. Lucia-born poet, writer, and former diplomat, and Mailyne Kilantang Briggs, a film, television, and Media practitioner, to fill a literary and artistic gap in Ottawa for  Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) to share their stories in music, spoken words and poems as they continue to develop their talents.

Mailyne Kilantang Briggs, Co-Founder, Media Practitioner Photo credit: Briggs

Mailyne Kilantang Briggs, Co-Founder, Media Practitioner (Photo credit: Briggs)

Click on the link to watch the highlights of the night.