2017 | PUBLIC INSTALLATION The Sum of All Parts Jalani Morgan April 30–May 31 Metro Hall Hailing from south Scarborough and working at the intersection of art, industry, and community, Jalani Morgan has made a name for himself as a photographer committed to picturing the social and cultural landscape of Toronto as it changes. While his subjects range from individuals to mass public assemblies in city streets, his compositions consistently frame and foreground multifaceted sites of Black knowledge production across the Greater Toronto Area. Whether this is articulated through the artist’s formal investigations into the politics of tonal representation—as his black-and-white series of prominent Black Torontonians demonstrates—or portrayed through the spaces in which Black cultural tradition is transmitted, such as in the mas’ camps of Caribana, Morgan’s ever increasing archive of Black Toronto performs as a rich collection of monuments-in-the-making. Importantly, Morgan portrays these sites of Black knowledge production as intersectional spaces. By documenting events such as the Black Canadian Studies Association Conference and the Racialized Indigenous Student Experience Summit, or Black Lives Matter TO rallies and protests, Morgan invites viewers to participate in the cultural milieu his photographs frame and the discourses they seek to share across social, civic, and cultural borderlines. Morgan’s own embedded perspective, standing alongside the protagonists, allows him to capture some of these events’ most intimate moments, ensuring that the knowledge pictured, produced, protected, and passed down exists in tandem with the heterogeneity that defines Toronto as a 21st-century city. Black Lives Matter TO, whose partisans feature prominently in Morgan’s images, is committed to “actively dismantle all forms of anti-Black racism, liberate Blackness, support Black healing, affirm Black existence, and create freedom to love and self-determine.” The symbolic siting of Morgan’s work at Metro Hall allows viewers to consider the status of the organization’s demands against a political backdrop, and how difference and negotiation will act as mobilizing factors in creating new kinds of solidarities for this city’s future. Valuing Toronto’s people and places, Morgan’s work asks Torontonians of diverse backgrounds to reflect upon and participate in this city’s culture as it is constituted by its equally diverse Black communities. This public installation is Morgan’s first solo presentation. -- (Emelie Chhangur, 2017) Presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of York University Supported by the City of Toronto Curated by Emelie Chhangur Photo documentation by Toni Hafkenscheid

Jalani Morgan describes baseball as his first love, and 9 Bats as his love letter. 9 Bats is the first inning of what will be a nine-inning body of work. Morgan’s past projects, including the Black Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame engage the process of not only remembering, or memorializing Canadian Black baseball greats of the 1930s and 40s, but of actively unforgetting a history that has barely been recorded. His intent in documenting and filling in gaps by ficto-historicizing is to provide content and representation for Black communities, that they might better see themselves engaging fully with the world. With 9 Bats, Morgan collaborated with his five-year old nephew Cordell, to embody the character of Devon C. Jones, a young player destined for greatness. The large-scale installation and photographs in 9 Bats are set at Scarborough Village Park, Morgan’s childhood baseball diamond, with its characteristic suburban skyline and apartments in the background, alluding to time, place, and the many stories unfolding in the surrounding neighbourhood. Young Devon has been gifted a bat that contains magical properties. Representing past, present, and future, Jones owns the field with the bestowed bat, and his natural ability. Through his lens, Morgan has captured moments of strategy, prowess, reflection, and creativity, achieved through motor and sensory impulses, and the assurance of being seen. An interactive installation in the form of a batting cage invites visitors to experience the power of the altered state of play, and the resonance of a ball perfectly addressed, and piercing the imagined sky. Playful, yet inherently political, 9 Bats demonstrates Morgan’s photographic acumen as he touches upon the auto-biographical and fantastical to both represent, and continue to build a world where kids like Devon/Cordell engage at the centre, and not on the margins. Exhibition Documentation by: Toni Hafkenscheid

The smoke-ball king’s bat (2018) is a project by Toronto-based artist Jalani Morgan that commemorates The Chatham Colored All-Stars baseball team. It continues Morgan’s series of “unforgetting” Black Canadian baseball histories by reinserting personal objects into public memory that comprise an imaginary Black Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. This work was exhibited In 2018 at TAG and part of the exhibition contact landing(s) with Faraz Anoushahpour-Parastoo Anoushahpour-Ryan Ferko, Christina Battle, Sandra Brewster, Teresa Carlesimo & Michael DiRisio, Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Zoë Heyn-Jones, Felix Kalmenson, Morris Lum, Dylan Miner, Jalani Morgan, Abdi Osman, and Skawennati Curated by Ellyn Walker

Jalani Morgan’s reverence for baseball is reflected in his act of celebration with his inaugural “Black Canadian Hall of Fame” Collection. Morgan turns his attention to his home studio’s location – The Ward – where his discovery of two Black baseball players that played for the local Mount Carmel Church team in 1942 will be further explored. Curated by Ellyn Walker Gallery: YYZ Gallery - Toronto, Canada