Ontario's Poet Laureate partners with Holt Renfrew to create performance series celebrating Black History Month

Ontario’s first Poet Laureate has partnered with Holt Renfrew to create a performance series to celebrate Black History Month.

Randell Adjei, 30, who also heads R.I.S.E, a youth arts organization, received the designation as Poet Laureate in April 2021 and subsequently was appointed to the Ontario Legislature for two terms.

In the series, Adjei performs the poem ‘Flowers.’ He told CTV News Toronto in an interview Tuesday he hopes it inspires people to reach out to loved ones.

“Giving flowers isn’t a physical act,” he said. “Giving flowers is more honouring and celebrating, hey you mean something to me. Calling someone and sharing your appreciation for them.”

Adjei calls Scarborough home, but grew up partly in Ghana, raised by his aunt. He visited the country last year, but didn’t get to meet with her before she died.

“We really have to show the people we care about, we love, right now,” he said. “Flowers connected to Black History Month really has to do with honouring the ancestors, honouring those that have come before us as well.”

Adjei invited three other Toronto women to perform in two other videos for the project. ‘Took Me From My Roots,’ by Esie Mensah, a choreographer and director and Dynesti Williams, a musician and financial coach, and ‘Midnight,’ by multi-disciplinary artist Tracey Kayy.

“I think about Dynesti and Esie’s piece is what they were able to is talk about the journey of being taken from the continent and placed in a system that wasn’t designed for us, in a world that didn’t see us as equals essentially, and what I love about Tracey’s piece is she speaks about midnight, how do we learn to love our skin,” he said.

“Blackness is not monolithic, there’s so many different shades to Blackness, and I think what’s really important is to show the different examples, experiences of how we walk in this skin. How we show resilience in this skin.”

With more than a year left as Poet Laureate, Adjei is looking forward to visiting Ontario communities, working in person with young people and sharing more poetry.

Adjei said working with Holt Renfrew on the project was a positive collaborative experience.

“What I loved the most is that people on set, usually when I’m on set it’s a lot of people that don’t look like me, but on the set there were a lot of Black folks and they were very conscientious of doing so, and intentional from make-up to directors, everybody, like as many people as we could be representative of the campaign.”

“As we reflect on Black History Month, for me, the most important thing I think about is legacy. And legacy is so important because it’s the legacy of those who have come before me that have really given me the platform that I have today.”

Adjei said he is encouraged and inspired by the excellence of Black Canadians who have already made huge contributions.

“I think it’s also important others recognize we all our living our legacy right now, we all are creating our legacy right now, that ultimately it’s not about the day you were born nor is it about the day you leave, but everything is about that dash in between and that dash in between is going to symbolize how you were able to use your life and use your gifts, your talents, your skills to make the world around us better.”

A spokesperson for Holt Renfrew said the company aimed to use its platform to educate and entertain by celebrating Black History Month.

The company paid for the production of the videos and photoshoot, performing artists, hair and makeup artists and musicians who produced the backing tracks. They also made a donation to R.I.S.E.

“We are proud to showcase this beautiful art that celebrates Black excellence and creativity and put that out into the world throughout the month while highlighting the incredible Black creative artists, and support Randell’s R.I.S.E. organization,” the spokesperson said.