Rexdale artist memorializes former U.S. slave with statue
‘Afrofuturist’ design depicts man who escaped to what is now Etobicoke
Rexdale-born and raised artist Quentin VerCetty has won a city design competition to honour Joshua Glover, who escaped slavery to live for decades in what is now Etobicoke. Mayor John Tory announced VerCetty’s design — a striding, suit-wearing Glover, a cyborgstyle arm with dangling shackles behind him — will become a statue in the new Joshua Glover Park
VerCetty’s vision was chosen unanimously by a review panel of art and history experts. The announcement says VerCetty applied an “Afrofuturist” vision to the design and drew on life events of Glover, who found freedom in Canada in 1854.
Glover “gazes confidently into the future while throwing away the crushing chains of slavery with his mutilated cyborg arm,” the announcement says.
“He clutches his books close to his chest knowing that it is knowledge that will set him free and provide the power and spiritual endurance to overcome the indignities and sufferings of the past.”
Glover escaped a Missouri slavemaster in 1852, finding work at a Wisconsin sawmill until he was recaptured. Slavery opponents broke into the jail and freed Glover who got to Upper Canada where slavery had been abolished.
He worked as a labourer for inn owner Thomas Montgomery and rented a house near what is now Dundas Street
West and Kingsway Crescent, according to the 2007 book “Finding Freedom: The Untold Story of Joshua Glover, Runaway Slave.”
At Thursday’s ceremony at the Montgomery Inn museum, the winning artist, an OCAD university grad, activist and musician, said he tried to include a bit of his own origin story in the statue.
“I felt like I was limited to my circumstances,” growing up, VerCetty told reporters. “Joshua Glover made me realize you don’t have to allow your circumstances to define you.” Glover escaped a place where Black Africans were seen as non-human, he added, so the statue shows him “going from machine, this robot of society, to then regaining his humanity,” as a participant in society.
The statue and park will be in the “Kingsway by the River” development near Royal York Road and Dundas Street West.
The work will be unveiled in 2021 which Tory has proclaimed “ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art.”
The mayor praised VerCetty’s design, saying he hopes the Glover tribute will spark discussions about the contributions of Black Torontonians and the anti-Black racism they still face today.