About MOBA
Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives (MOBA) is an Ontario Early Researcher Award-funded project (2021-26) that has three objectives.
- To create a comprehensive inventory of Black Ontarian archival collections
- To examine, using storytelling, how archives are used by creative communities
- To evaluate, over a five-year period, how we can bridge the knowledge gap between Black archival collections and Black history in the province.
Project details
As MOBA’s director, research and creative strategy, Dr. Cheryl Thompson has worked in archives for over a decade. Her experiences working in Black archives underpin this project and its focus on providing the public with wider access to Black collections.
Meet The MOBA Team
Dr. Cheryl Thompson (she/her), Director, Research and Creative Strategy
Dr. Thompson is an Associate Professor, Performance at The Creative School, Toronto Metropolitan University. She is also director of Black Creative Lab and creator of BREC.ca, a website that documents Canada’s history of blackface.
MOBA is Black Creative Lab’s lead project. You can find out more about Dr. Thompson at her website.
Current MOBA Team
Lucy Wowk, Research and Creative Lead
Lucy Wowk holds an MA in Communication & Culture, TMU/York University and is a PhD student in Social and Political Thought at York University. She has been a part of the MOBA team since its inaugural year in 2021. Lucy has created many of MOBA’s digital assets, and primarily serves as MOBA’s senior lead. Lucy is a researcher, designer, and educator interested in the relationship between ethics and aesthetics. She has catalogued and transcribed over 300 Canadian newspaper articles on the subjects of blackface, performance, and race, spanning 1840-1950. Lucy developed and designed BREC.ca. Working with Dr. Cheryl has been influential in her growth as a researcher, in terms of approach, methods, and research dissemination.
Megan Judd, Promotion and Media Lead
Megan holds a BA in Visual Studies from the University of Toronto and has worked in advertising and media promotion for several years. Megan is MOBA’s media contact and is a liaison for Dr. Cheryl’s speaking engagements and public appearances. Megan joined the MOBA team in 2022.
Past MOBA Team
Dr. Karen Cyrus (she/her)
Dr. Karen Cyrus (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Wilfrid Laurier University, and Director of the Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa. Dr. Cyrus was MOBA’s postdoctoral fellow (2021-22) and served as MOBA’s co-collaborator and research co-lead (2021-23).
Mel Racho (he/him)
Mel Racho (he/him), is PhD Candidate in Communication & Culture, TMU and York University. He served as the Black Creative Lab’s Video Editor and Content Lead (2021-23). Mel co-produced the Black Creative Lab’s YouTube series, Remixing the Archive. Mel is a queer trans Fillipinx media artist-scholar interested in creating revolutionary systems. He holds a Master of Information in Information Systems, an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Digital Media. Mel’s PhD is focused on data de/colonial infrastructures within the evolution and futurity of the web. He creatively contributes to York U’s Digital Justice Lab, the University of Ottawa and Carleton Universities’ Transgender Media Portal and Digital Democracies Institute’s Data Fluencies project.
Enna Kim
Enna Kim is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Canada. Enna served as MOBA’s Event Graphic Designer (2022-23). In her work as an artist, Enna explores the dimensions between her hyphenated Korean-Canadian identity through animation, projection mapping and large-scale murals. Enna has exhibited work in InterAccess Gallery, Xpace Cultural Centre and events such as BIG on Bloor Festival, BigArtTO and Burning Man. She is a recent OCAD University graduate from the Digital Futures program, and the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in Scotland. Enna has an MA in Communication & Culture from York/TMU University.