Behind the Bars – A Toronto Mans Reflection

Behind the Bars led by A Toronto Mans Reflection (ATMF) was a collaborative research project and interactive art exhibit of incarcerated racialized mans’ reflections. The project shared what’s needed for our communities to be safer. ATMF asked the men to reflect on these two questions:

“If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?”
Reflection: (self-accountability)

“If you could go back in time, what support would you want to have from the system?” Reflection: (system-accountability)

The artists then created art from their reflections.

The final exhibit was held in an Old City Hall courtroom in downtown Toronto in April 2023. Attendees were invited to witness, absorb, and consider ways they can work together to make community safety a real priority in collaborative ways.

FLIP’s role in Behind the Bars was to financially support/mentor research production but perhaps our most significant role was to mediate bureaucracies. It was critical to flip the narrative in that exact space — a space that holds significant power and often trauma as it moves the bodies of racialized men through it without pause. The time and energy to navigate multiple administrative and bureaucratic systems surrounding Court House room rental was staggering and involved days of conversations, interaction and contracts with the corporation responsible for leasing properties owned by the Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure, the City of Toronto, Toronto police, and private security. All this, JUST for a two-hour art exhibition on a Saturday afternoon.

FLIP had the organizational resources of time, social capital and legitimacy as a “charity” and the identities of staff and the purpose for which we were attempting to pursue the room rental were not questioned, when interacting with these systems. These are just some of the system barriers that emergent leaders face when trying to use art for impactful social change, and why FLIP exists as a conduit and facilitator in support of emergent leaders creating new and more just worlds.

Connect with A Toronto Mans Reflection:
IG: @atorontomansreflection