With a family connection to her subject matter, a local artist has been able to show her gratitude by creating portraits of members of the National Unity Association.
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Mariah Alexander designed the artwork for an exhibit on the association, which is currently on display at the Chatham-Kent Museum. The artist, who grew up in North Buxton and now lives in Walpole Island First Nation, is a great-granddaughter of NUA founding member Arthur H. Alexander.
The association worked against segregation in Chatham-Kent in the 1940s and ’50s, when people of color could be denied service at restaurants and other businesses. Their work, with the help of other organizations, led to the passing of the Fair Accommodations Practices Act in Ontario in 1954.
“I really wanted to make sure I made them beautiful and vibrant … even though it’s on such a heavy topic,” Alexander, 24, said. “I’m very proud of what they did and they should be too.”
The artist said she had heard the story of the association throughout her life from her father, Spencer, who was an assistant curator at the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum.
“We have a journal from my great-grandfather that was part of the National Unity Association and he (Spencer) would read those excerpts to me from a very young age,” Alexander said. “I would always ask follow up questions as I got older too to try to remember because I think it’s really important to know your history.”
Alexander is also close with the family of Blair Newby, the co-ordinator of museum programs for Chatham-Kent, and they have shared stories with her.
Her subjects for the exhibit included her great-grandfather and Hugh Burnett from the National Unity Association and others who fought discrimination, such as Alvin Ladd, Ruth Lor and Bromley Armstrong.
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The exhibit begins with the background of the founding of Dawn and Elgin settlements and the Black population of Chatham in the 1800s. For this section, Alexander created portraits of Josiah Henson, Abraham Dora Shadd and Mary Ann Shadd Cary.
The conclusion of the exhibit features a group portrait of members of Buxton’s Next Generation, a recent group that is working to build a sense of community in their area.
Alexander created these portraits with the Procreate app on her iPad and each piece took between 10 and 20 hours.
“I’m a fan of bold colors and complementary colors and I always usually include a floral element in my drawings,” she said. “Each flower in every portrait has a different meaning.”
For example, the Solomon’s seal flower for Arthur H. Alexander represents peace and wisdom and the bird of paradise for Mary Ann Shadd Cary symbolizes the idea of peace on Earth, freedom and excellence, she said.
Alexander said she also used a hydrangea flower for the exhibit to show her gratitude to the NUA.
The portraits are all displayed at a large scale for the exhibit. The artist said she focused on facial expressions and eyes so people could feel the portraits looking at them when they see them in person.
“I want them to feel very much alive and very much with you in that moment,” she said.
Newby said assistant curator Lydia Burggraaf had the idea to have Alexander contribute to the exhibit after viewing some of her portraits.
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“Our current exhibits that we’re trying to do are more interactive, but because of the subject matter, we knew this couldn’t be interactive,” Newby said. “We still wanted it to have a huge impact.”
Newby provided Alexander with photos of all of the subjects. Since most of them were in black and white, they found descendants of each person “to figure out where their tones might be,” Alexander said.
“I like to picture my ancestors watching me and following this journey of our family,” she said. “I just needed to paint them in the best light I could.”
To book a tour or view the virtual exhibit, visit www.chatham-kent.ca/ckmuseum.