The First Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium

Photographer, Social Activist: Ernie Paniccioli, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, I had the honour of speaking as part of a panel for the first Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, an event produced by the Art Gallery of Ontario, thanks to my thoughtful and innovative colleagues Audrey Hudson, who is the AGO’s Richard & Elizabeth Currie, Chief, Education & Programming, and Charlotte Big Canoe, the AGO’s Program Curator, Indigenous Projects.

The co-hosts of the Symposium were Audrey Hudson and Robert Durocher, Centrally Assigned Vice-Principal, Urban Indigenous Education Centre (UIEC), with panellist moderation provided by Karyn Recollet, an Assistant Professor via the Women & Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto.

Most of my speaking engagements since the beginning of 2020 have been solo engagements, so I appreciate sharing a stage with and learning from my peers. I have much to learn, I will speak on a panel about mental health for creatives on behalf of the Henry’s Foundation soon, and tickets are available here.

I spoke alongside legendary hip-hop photographer, bestselling author of “Hip-Hop At The End of the World” and “Who Shot Ya?”, iconic visual artist, one of my mentors, and the Symposium’s keynote speaker, Ernie Paniccioli.

Recently, The Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) has been hosting a series of private dinner parties across America in honour of the often unsung heroes of Black culture. The series kicked off in New York City during the first week of April 2023 with a tribute to Ernie.

His Grammy Museum exhibit, A Hip-Hop Life: Five Decades of Hip-Hop Music, Art, And Culture, was celebrated widely last year. Cornell University's collection offers digital versions of nearly 20,000 photographs by Ernie. Such accomplishments merely scratch the surface of what Enie has created for himself and others.

Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

The stories of America and hip-hop culture cannot be told accurately without mentioning Ernie Paniccioli.

I also spoke beside Mark Campbell, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough whose research focuses on exploring new modalities of being human, the sonic innovations within Black music, Black Canadian studies and the knowledge production of digital archives. He is also the founder of the Northside Hip-Hop Collective.

The third panellist who joined me was Joseph Hersco, also known as J-Rebel, who has been an arts-based educator and a child and youth care worker for the past 16 years.

Joseph was born in Toronto and raised in the Jane-Finch/Black Creek and Lawrence Heights area and is currently a Research Associate and Co-Instructor for The Art of Breaking II Course at York University and is the Director and Principal Consultant of Concrete Warriors 4, a youth-led and youth-centred Hip Hop Educational Leadership and Mentorship program, where he implements programming for urban Black, Indigenous and racialized youth across all intersectional identity markers.

His programming has been present at the Toronto District School Board since 2014.

He is also a prolific breakdancer, one of the best in Canada, a longtime member of the iconic SuperNaturalz Crew, and one of the subjects featured in my solo Project T-Dot photography exhibit at Toronto’s City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square last year.

The fact that the AGO is now my client and that I was speaking there was, and still is surreal to me because attending summer camps at the AGO as a kid and later becoming an AGO member has profoundly influenced how I see myself, others, art, and the world around me, and such experiences gave me the courage to create and share artwork to the degrees that I do today.

Among many other variables, at least some of which I am unaware of, I would have never auditioned for the Claude Watson School For The Arts at nine or become a professional photographer without the Art Gallery of Ontario.

I would have never loved art to the extent that I do, and I would not have the bravery to work in many domains and mediums simultaneously today without the AGO.

I arrived at 9:30 AM for Day 1 of the symposium, excited to speak to the more than 300 people in attendance. I entered one of the AGO’s spacious conference areas, which had a welcoming and calm ambiance and a lot of fantastic food and drinks provided by Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin (They Feed The People) Community, an innovative food security project that utilizes catering as a means to support Indigenous Seniors & other vulnerable community members in Toronto.

I had a piece of vegan banana bread by Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin that might have been the best piece of bread I have ever had; my words cannot do it justice.

I had been hired on behalf of the Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium to speak about the documentation of hip-hop culture and more after I met Audrey through her colleague Erin Prendergast, Chief Strategic Initiatives at the Art Gallery of Ontario, last summer when I gave her a tour of my solo Project T-Dot photography exhibit at Toronto’s City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square. My assistant Danica and I invited many AGO executives to the exhibition.

Assistant Professor: Karyn Recollet, Richard & Elizabeth Currie Chief, Education & Programming: Audrey Hudson, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

I enjoyed learning about Erin and sharing what I have learned about Toronto’s hip-hop history, culture, and community since I began producing Project T-Dot.

Learning about her perspectives on the exhibit, Toronto’s hip-hop scene, art, and the AGO was an exciting and informative experience.

As a gift, Erin generously gave me a copy of Fragments of Epic Memory, a beautiful hardcover book published by the Art Gallery of Ontario in association with DelMonico Books D.A.P., Canada.

I am currently reading it, and the book focuses on new ways of understanding Caribbean visual culture, from historical photographs following emancipation to contemporary transnational perspectives, on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada.

Months after giving Erin a tour of the exhibit, I found myself documenting Audrey for Project T-Dot, given her significant contributions to and research on hip-hop culture in North America, the Caribbean, and globally.

The AGO boardroom, wherein I documented Audrey weeks before I was invited to speak at the Symposium, was adjacent to the spacious and well-equipped basement learning area wherein I attended summer camps as a child. I felt a sense of nostalgia as I photographed and shot video footage of her giving a lecture.

Richard & Elizabeth Currie Chief, Education & Programming: Audrey Hudson, Location: The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

I reflected on my gratitude for being able to explore the AGO the day before almost every COVID-19 lockdown in Toronto, knowing that opportunities for myself to visit indoor art exhibits would be few and far between during the most restrictive periods of the pandemic.

Day 1 of the Symposium made me feel optimistic, energized, and curious, in stark contrast to the constraint and exhaustion I felt while operating my business this winter, during the darkest winter Toronto experienced in over 85 years.

The audience slowly trickled in and consisted primarily of educators and Indigenous students from Toronto and other parts of Ontario.

The panel was opened with a short statement by Stephan Jost, the Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Jost gave most of the credit for the Symposium’s inception and production to Audrey, Charlotte, and the rest of the team behind the Symposium, who worked tirelessly on the project for years.

He was excited about its potential and the gathering of some of the future of various Indigenous cultures in Canada.

Location: The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

Audrey took the mic soon after, providing the audience with land acknowledgment, reminding us that Toronto is a word that originates from the Mohawk word “Tkaronto,” meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing,” and that our city now resides on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. When she finished her opening statement, I noticed that Ernie had arrived with an entourage of many people, including his manager Melissa and my longtime friend and colleague, Jason Sinobert, known as Griz On The Grind, a talented Indigenous documentarian and entrepreneur of hip-hop culture in his own right, and one of Ernie’s friends and mentees.

Griz and I documented many hip-hop concerts together during the early stages of my career, wherein the basis and potential of Project T-Dot were far from concrete in my mind.

Without him and Amol Gupta, also known as Mr. Standout, Neil Donaldson, professionally known as Logikal Ethix, and a handful of other individuals and organizations like Manifesto Community Projects and The Remix Project, my motivation to see Project T-Dot through would have significantly waned over a decade ago.

Griz, Amol, Neil, and others taught me that no door was closed to me, as far as documenting hip-hop culture is concerned, if I had the faith, conviction, cleverness, and desire to find and walk through it and if my intentions were genuine (by my definition).

Many people wonder how I have been able to access the rooms that I have accessed and how I have been able to document such rare moments in American and Canadian hip-hop history, and although there are probably more variables involved than I can fathom, the friends that I have made within Toronto’s hip-hop community, and the lessons I have learned from them are major contributing factors, in addition to my willpower, my assertiveness, luck, etc.

Griz began documenting American, Canadian, and Indigenous hip-hop culture in the late 90s, primarily through filmmaking, long before I developed the faith and conviction to choose my career path.

Photographer, Social Activist: Ernie Paniccioli, Richard & Elizabeth Currie Chief, Education & Programming: Audrey Hudson, Program Curator, Indigenous Projects: Charlotte Big Canoe, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

Griz and Ernie visibly shared the optimism I was experiencing, and I walked up to them and hugged them as they entered the Symposium’s venue.

It was my first time meeting Ernie in person, despite many online conversations and collaboration on one of my recent projects, which I will share with the general public soon.

I am grateful that Manifesto Community Projects introduced me to Ernie, Jamel Shabazz, and other mentors.

Learning from and sharing my work with an artist and hip-hop documentarian as prolific as Ernie and knowing that he views my work when he can via social media and otherwise has consciously and unconsciously humbled me and has inspired me to put my best foot forward as a photographer, and within the context of the other mediums and domains that I work in.

Indigenous people in North America, the Caribbean, South America, and elsewhere have experienced death, trauma, and persecution due to colonialism, which is similar in many ways to the death, trauma, and persecution that Black people in North America, the Caribbean, South America, and elsewhere have experienced due to colonialism.

Furthermore, some Indigenous tribes collaborated with Europeans for economic and political gain during the colonization of the Americas, much like some West African tribes collaborated with Europeans to trap and enslave other West Africans as part of the transatlantic slave trade.

When I saw and embraced Ernie, Griz, and other Indigenous people at the Symposium, I was embracing individuals who share many of the same historical challenges that many other Black people and I have faced for hundreds of years, despite our differences.

When my fellow speakers and I took the stage before Audrey introduced us to the Symposium’s eager audience, I brought some of my photography and filmmaking equipment with me (via Canon Canada) on stage, as I knew that I was given and would maximize a rare opportunity to document (and learn from) a pivotal moment in Toronto’s hip-hop history, as I have done thousands of times before.

And so, I decided to document when I was not tasked with speaking, and I captured some incredible footage for Project T-Dot and other purposes, some of which is included herein. As usual, I was doing the most in service of the AGO, the Symposium, myself, my colleagues, and Project T-Dot.

Soon after, I learned about Mark Campbell's belief that documentarians of hip-hop culture must challenge the aspects of capitalism and other systems that define life in the Western world, such that hip-hop culture is depicted as accurately as possible and in a way that empowers marginalized groups and considers and uplifts those that birthed hip-hop culture and continue to uphold its essence.

J-Rebel spoke about the fact that hip-hop culture has, and continues to expand his mind and has shown him more of the world and Toronto than he once believed was possible.

He reminded the audience that hip-hop culture is now the most widespread and popular cultural phenomenon the world has ever seen. In the words of the Notorious B.I.G., “Remember Rappin' Duke? Duh-ha duh-ha You never thought that hip-hop would take it this far.”

Dancer, Choreographer, Educator, Mentor, DJ, Event Planner: Joseph Hersco, Also Known As J-Rebel, Assistant Professor: Mark Campbell, Assistant Professor: Karyn Recollet, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

To him, hip-hop culture has similarly expanded the horizons of the youth in his community, youth from the Jane-Finch/Black Creek and Lawrence Heights area, providing them with creative and consequently positive outlets for self-expression and documentation of their lives and environments while showing them that Toronto and the world are far vaster and multifaceted than their neighbourhoods.

When I first met J-Rebel in front of my exhibit last year, he told me that many of the youth in his area had never left his area, which I understood at an intellectual level, but which was hard for me to comprehend nonetheless.

As far as Ernie’s contributions to the panel are concerned, he spoke about many topics, including his friendships with hip-hop greats like Ice Cube, Queen Latifah, Nas, and The Notorious B.I.G.

Because he has experienced numerous hardships and near-death experiences and has made it part of his life’s mission to educate and empower youth, not only did he address topics that were relevant to hip-hop culture and Indigenous culture, but he also imparted wisdom that he knew that all the young people in attendance would benefit from, regardless of their cultural or socioeconomic background.

Ernie knew it might be his only opportunity to address the crowd we were fortunate enough to address, he knew that we are all on borrowed time, so he spoke about how he taught himself photography, how he became one of hip-hop culture’s most accomplished and celebrated photographers, The Universal Zulu Nation, the five elements of hip-hop, the early beginnings of hip-hop culture in the Bronx, why 2023 is hip-hop’s 49th anniversary and not its 50th anniversary from his perspective, why he expresses himself through painting and other mediums, how the study of Zen Buddhism has expanded his mind and profoundly impacted his spirituality, and the importance of dignity, self-respect, self-affirmation and gratitude.

Ernie stated that he is disturbed by the fact that Toronto’s incidents of gun violence exceeded New York City’s recently and that it is paramount to the health and well-being of hip-hop culture, Black and Indigenous communities, other marginalized groups, and humanity as a whole that such violence is significantly reduced everywhere.

Like Ernie, who is very shrewd and has more street smarts than most, I have seen and experienced my fair share of violence in Toronto and around the world, which is why I have been working with Operation Prefrontal Cortex, a program harnessing the power of mindfulness and meditation to help reduce the incidents of gun, mass, and police violence in Toronto, for the last five years.

Ernie also acknowledged the entrance of his good friend, Indigenous recording artist Drezus, as he walked into the space with a friend and sat near Ernie’s manager Melissa.

Soon after, Ernie described me as “the most prolific hip-hop photographer in Canada,” which was incredibly humbling because he is my elder and someone I greatly respect. He knows from experience what it takes to be a prolific hip-hop photographer.

In fact, during our first call, he advised me to “be prolific,” which I interpreted as expanding my projects and creative ideas to the extent that may seem nearly impossible to execute. Being prolific also means sticking with my loftiest goals until they are achieved, whether they take months, years, or decades while staying true to my values.

Ernie’s work is vast, and he is near twice my age. He also began producing a lot of photographic work that does not directly relate to hip-hop culture long before hip-hop as we know it today came to fruition.

I addressed the audience and spoke about what inspired me to begin documenting Toronto’s hip-hop history through the production of Project-T Dot.

I told the audience I followed my curiosity by beginning to produce Project T-Dot during my last year of undergraduate studies at the University of Western Ontario, now known as Western University.

Moreover, I knew far more about America’s hip-hop culture at the time than Toronto’s hip-hop culture. I wanted to rectify that as I began learning about and documenting the talented, creative, resourceful, and dynamic members of Toronto’s hip-hop scene; I realized that I had an opportunity to share their stories with the general public in Toronto, Canada, and globally, such that the world would be able to see how multifaceted Toronto’s hip-hop world is, and how it consists of far more than musicians and is not solely defined by the most popular rappers, producers, and DJs from Canada’s largest city.

As I mentioned at the Symposium, I will do everything in my power to tell the story of Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history, from my perspective, through photography, filmmaking, writing, and more, and from the various perspectives of the community itself, such that Project T-Dot will be the most comprehensive summary of Toronto’s hip-hop culture in existence, ideally by the end of next year.

I also told the audience that my next Project T-Dot exhibit would be announced soon, it will be installed at a significant location in Toronto, much like my solo Project T-Dot photography exhibit at Toronto’s City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square, and it will be available to a minimum of 3 million visitors over a year. My second Project T-Dot photography exhibit has been more than eight months in the making.

I was also asked a poignant question by one of the students in the audience about how one can come to terms with the seemingly positive and negative aspects of hip-hop culture in Canada and elsewhere. There are many negative aspects to popular hip-hop music today, especially.

Hip-hop culture and different hip-hop art forms are a by-product of human consciousness. Human consciousness is constructive and destructive; human beings are heroes and villains, like the yin and yang symbol in Taoism. Although a small percentage of the human population is completely malevolent due to genetics, childhood traumas, their lack of mental health and equanimity, their lack of self-awareness, etc.

Photographer, Social Activist: Ernie Paniccioli, Chief, Education & Programming: Audrey Hudson, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

It is up to us as individuals to determine if we will engage in hip-hop culture in a way that benefits ourselves, our family, our friends, our communities, and society at large or in a harmful way.

A knife can be used to cut a birthday cake and to celebrate a joyous occasion, or it can be used to create significant physical and psychological trauma. It depends on who yields the knife. Hip-hop is like that.

I was also asked how one can begin documenting hip-hop culture, and I encouraged the audience to start as soon as possible, using any mediums or forms of equipment they have at their disposal.

I told them not to wait for permission from others, and to follow their curiosity and enthusiasm, as there is much of hip-hop culture to document globally, there are many new stories to tell from countless perspectives, and it is up to young people to continue the tradition of recording a culture that is meaningful to millions of people around the world.

I also reminded the audience that Indigenous and Black cultures in the West are intertwined. That hip-hop culture would have never come to fruition without the sacrifices and unfortunate deaths of millions of Indigenous people.

The original inhabitants of the island of Hispaniola, which is now Haiti, where my family comes from, and the Dominican Republic, was the Indigenous Taíno, an Arawak-speaking people who inhabited the island after leaving the Yucatan peninsula as early as 4000 BC.

Photographer, Social Activist: Ernie Paniccioli, Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Designer: Jason Sinobert Also Known As Griz On The Grind, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

The Taino also inhabited the island of Xaymaca, meaning "Land of Wood and Water,” which is now called Jamaica.

Since hip-hop music as we know it was created by Jamaicans in the Bronx, among others, and since enslaved West Africans were bought to the Caribbean to replace the Taino after they were killed through genocide, there would be no hip-hop today without the genocide of the Taino. And I would not be alive either; many Indigenous people, Black people, and others died for me to be here, and I do what I can to honour them through my work and my contributions to the amazing, albeit severely flawed society that I am lucky to be a part of.

After the panel, Ernie’s keynote began, and it was an onslaught of timely wisdom, much like his contributions to our panel.

He reminded the audience that the land we were on was stolen from Indigenous people hundreds of years ago, he spoke about his close relationships with some of the most celebrated hip-hop musicians in the world, and he encouraged the marginalized youth in attendance to believe in themselves and uplift themselves to degrees that supersede the lack of respect and support that may be projected onto them throughout their lives.

He continued by sharing far more timely advice, again based on the premise that he was still determining if he would be given another opportunity to address the same Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium audience again.

Ernie understands life's fragility and transient nature, so he uses his time, attention, and words wisely, much like me. We are very similar in that way.

During his keynote, he also shared some incredible portraits from the early 90s, including a picture of two of my favourite rappers, 2Pac and Rakim, presumably shot in New York City.

Most of the images he shared astounded me for many reasons, mainly their significance to American and hip-hop history.

I wish that the Symposium’s audience, Karyn Recollet and Ernie, addressed the artistic merit and the aesthetic qualities of Ernie’s work and how he shot his images at a technical level. Still, there was limited time and a lot of ground to cover.

Following the success of the Symposium's first day, Ernie, his manager Melissa, Griz, Audrey, Charlotte, myself, and others walked to the AGO Bistro for a late lunch. However, it took quite some time to get there as many of the Symposium’s guests were asking Ernie many questions and requesting that he autograph their copies of his books.

During lunch, we ate some delicious food, enjoyed many laughs, watched Ernie sign more autographs, including one he signed for Audrey and listened to many of his amazing stories and epiphanies.

Among others, he told us that following 2Pac’s untimely death, Biggie, otherwise known as The Notorious B.I.G., told Ernie that his highly-publicized, violent, and historic rivalry with 2Pac was childish and that he was looking forward to moving beyond it prior to Pac’s death so that they could work together again as friends and colleagues.

Photographer, Social Activist: Ernie Paniccioli, Recording Artist: Drezus, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

Ernie also reminded us that aspects of Jamaica’s music culture that were nearly identical to what one would consider hip-hop music in 1973 predate hip-hop music as we have come to know it.

Ernie’s friend, DJ Kool Herc, is credited with inventing or strongly influencing the invention of hip-hop music, hip-hop parties, and other aspects of hip-hop culture at an August 1973 dance party in the Bronx, but according to Ernie, all of the elements of that party predated 1973 and existed in Jamaica.

Nonetheless, when Kool Herc spun the same record on twin turntables, toggling between them while isolating and extending various percussion breaks, which were the record sections conducive to dancing, it was unique to New York at the time.

It led to the dancefloor being filled with New Yorkers that had polished their dance moves for weeks and months leading up to Herc’s party.

Eventually, I did an impromptu photo shoot with Ernie at the bistro, which I enjoyed.

Soon after, we all hugged Ernie, took photographs with him, and walked him to his Uber, which took him and his manager Melissa directly to the airport. They had to be back in New York City the same day.

Day 1 of The Symposium was a huge success, and I am grateful for Ernie’s wisdom, leadership, mentorship, and friendship.

I briefly spoke to Harold Williams, professionally known as Hype Williams, the following day.

I shared some video footage of me and Ernie speaking on the same panel at the Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium because I knew they had worked together many times.

Hype Williams is my favourite music video director; in my opinion, he is the most influential and accomplished music video director since the art form of music videos came to fruition, and he is by far one of the essential visual storytellers in hip-hop history and a significant reason why hip-hop became the most popular cultural movement in the world.

He is also an accomplished professional photographer and the mentor of my mentor, colleague, and friend, Julien Chrisitan, professionally known as Director X, who is like the younger Canadian equivalent of Hype Williams in many ways. They are different in many ways too.

Hype Williams created the larger-than-life aura of many hip-hop musicians through the music videos he conceptualized, directed, and produced in the 90s and early 2000s.

He is still active and would be considered no less prolific had he retired two decades ago.

When he found out I had been working with Ernie, he responded, “Ernie is the king,” followed by many crown emojis.

What Hype Williams has done for the art, entertainment, filmmaking, and hip-hop worlds cannot be recreated or emulated. The commercialization of hip-hop would not be a multibillion-dollar industry, nor would not have entered the realm of pop culture without him.

He is an incredibly talented enigma that has strongly influenced my desire to document hip-hop culture, much like Ernie. They are both mentioned in my bio.

After my brief exchange with Hype, sometimes referred to as Hype Willy, my assistant Danica informed me that my morning meeting had been rescheduled, which meant that I could briefly attend part of the second day of the Symposium.

That morning, I once again ate delicious baked goods by Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin. As I finished my coffee, I was approached by a curious and very cool girl named Sofia Carino Valiont from Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA), which is a specialized public arts-academic high school in the west end of Toronto, which is similar to my alma mater the Claude Watson Arts program.

Location: The AGO Bistro, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

After telling me about her work as a graffiti artist, she told me she is also a photographer and asked me how to improve her photography skills.

As such, I told her that at her age, improving her photography skills depended on shooting at a high volume, shooting as many photographs as she could regularly, ideally through self-assigned personal projects, while engaging in as much experimentation as possible.

I also reminded her that the equipment she has access to is more than enough, and in the words of Chase Jarvis, “the best camera is the one that’s with you.”

I finally told her that having her work critiqued by her teachers, peers, and mentors is essential, and although Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms feature some incredible photographers and other artists, some of the most talented, influential, and innovative photographers are no longer alive, and that it is in her best interests to study their lives and their work, in addition to studying the Gen Z and millennial photographers that she admires.

Soon after, she asked me if I could sign one of her aerosol cans, which I was happy to do.

That was a humbling experience for me. I shot some portraits of Sofia soon after while reminding her that if she continues to approach artists that she admires, both in-person and through digital means while asking them for their advice and feedback, she will go far. Her artistic practices will evolve in ways that are presently inconceivable to her.

Visual Artist, Student: Sofia Carino Valiont, Location: The Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2023, Photographer: Ajani Charles

I have done what I recommended to her since I was a kid, and I am amazed by the current state of my career and artistic practices.

Despite many challenges and periodically experiencing different forms of burnout, depression, and anxiety, I am living the life of my dreams.

After my exchange with Sofia, I observed and documented the Indigenous Women In Hip-Hop panel, which consisted of Indigenous hip-hop musicians Eekwol, T-Rhyme, JB The First Lady, and DJ Kookum, who were scheduled to perform at a showcase on behalf of the Symposium that evening; a showcase that I, unfortunately, could not attend, given my schedule.

Karyn Recollet moderated the panel, much like she moderated the panel that I was a part of 24 hours earlier.

The panel fascinated me as I knew almost nothing about Indigenous hip-hop music and culture in Canada. It was amazing to witness the friendship and respect among the artists, as mentioned above.

I learned a lot about Indigenous hip-hop music in Canada quickly. I ended my visit to Day 2 of The Symposium by engaging in an impromptu photo shoot with J-Rebel, who was in attendance with the youth that he mentors, and after we discussed some of our physical injuries and the fact that we are both Myodetox customers; Myodetox is the physiotherapy company that has contributed significantly to my health and wellbeing since 2020.

After the pleasant surprise of briefly running into Erin Prendergast for the first time in months, I left the Symposium to attend a physiotherapy session with my physiotherapist Jasmine Choi at Myodetox’s CityPlace location soon after.

The first Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium is one of the highlights of 2023 for me; it inspired me to learn far more about Indigenous hip-hop culture and Indigenous culture in general (on a global scale); it reminded me of the fact that I am currently involved in projects that far exceed what I imagined for myself at the start of my career, and I am grateful for what I learned and who I met through the event.

I look forward to the second Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium, and I am strongly motivated to have my work displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario sooner than later.

The First Indigenous Hip-Hop Symposium

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