Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis: Black Art at Night:

It's me, I'thandi, and I'm back to show some more love for our Black artists.

To continue our recognition of Black artists that have shown their presence at Nocturne, let's talk about Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis.

Eko Davis is a disabled Canadian-born, genderqueer choreographer, dancer, vocalist, and film/performance artist of Nigerian/Trinidadian/Algonquin/French descent. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, they have made Kjipuktuk/Halifax home. Davis' background is in contemporary dance, but has shifted their artistic practice, and collaborate often with visual, music, and theatre artists. They have become a unique multimedia performer, using film, projection, movement, dance, voice, music, audience participation and original sound scores to produce works that blend experiences of the stage, performance, and life. Davis is a program designer, facilitator, and consultant in the field of Social Innovation and Adaptive Change.

Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis performing in That Which We Cannot Own at Nocturne 2018: Nomadic Reciprocity. This project was a collaborative piece between Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis, Dayna Danger, and Gambletron also featuring Lindsay Dobbin (photo by Kylee Nunn)

You can see in their works the thought and care to examine and use these experiences to provide the most inclusive environments for all viewers and participants that wish to partake in anything they are involved in. This is the quality of equity that we all have to bring into our everyday lives, work, social settings and homes so that true change starts to become realized in all settings of our environments.

Davis did a collaboration in Nocturne 2018: Nomadic Reciprocity, curated by Raven Davis, with Gambletron and Dayna Danger titled That Which We Cannot Own; a work that demonstrated an audible and visual experience for the audience. The collaborative team investigated and presented themes surrounding being a visitor.

Davis was also a collaborating artist for anchor project Meeting Waters: Cross-Cultural Collaborations On Environmental Racism during Nocturne 2020: Echolocation, curated by Lindsay Dobbin. This project was lead by Ingrid Waldron and Lindsay Dobbin and was coordinated by me, I'thandi Munro. For this project, Leelee collaborated with Vanessa Hartley to create a video piece about the history and presence of environmental racism in Shelburne Nova Scotia.