Cheryl Foggo
Author, filmmaker, historian — there are a litany of terms to describe Cheryl Foggo, but which of those would she use?
“I think of myself as a writer, and I write in a lot of different forms and some of those forms lead me to other types of creations, such as directing and producing,” Foggo said. “Basically, I'm a storyteller.”
Born in Calgary, Foggo makes it her business to inform people of the city's past through writings and film. One of the latter was John Ware Reclaimed, a documentary that came out last year on an African-american who moved to Alberta in the 1880s and became one of the province's most significant ranchers.
“I think the story of John Ware is very important to our understanding of who we are as Canadians,” she said. “And his story was not well known nationally, so that was one of my motivations for making the film. I also felt the story was long overdue for an update because the last major work was published in 1960.”
Foggo is constantly working on projects that excite her. Currently, it's a theatre creation enterprise tentatively called Urgency, in collaboration with other women from diverse backgrounds.
“Just thinking about the future and what kind of world we want to leave for our collective children,” she said.
Another is a book project she is calling Mapping Black Calgary, 1880 through 1960.
Asked if she's optimistic about the future, given all that has transpired in 2020, Foggo is hesitant.
“What I will say is young people give me hope,” she said. “I love having young people in my life. I have daughters in their 30s and I have a grandson and nieces and nephews ... I love to surround myself artistically with young people.
“I'm a historian, so I believe in studying the past. I believe that we learn from the past but only because it tells us who we are today. If we don't know who we are today, we can't possibly move forward into a hopeful future. That's why intergenerational connections are so important.”