Rodney Diverlus, co-founder, Black Lives Matter Canada
Rodney Diverlus, co-founder, Black Lives Matter Canada
Black Futures Month: The artist and activist has a monumental year planned for Black Lives Matter By Kelsey Adams
Samuel Engelking
Before the federal government launched CERB, Black Lives Matter-Toronto adapted to COVID by running an emergency fund to help out-of-work Black Torontonians cover daily living expenses. This mutual aid model is something Rodney Diverlus, one of the group’s founding members, sees as integral to the way we build back after the pandemic. Diverlus calls himself an “artivist,” creating work that exists at the intersection of art and activism. He is the director of Wildseed Centre, a multi-purpose co-working space for the city’s Black community to organize, meet, create art and heal. He feels we’re on the precipice of a Black renaissance, laying the groundwork for sustainable organizing for generations to come.