BIO
Ayo Tsalithaba is a visual artist originally from Ghana and Lesotho. Their primary mediums include film, photography and illustration. Their work explores questions of home, (in)visibility, liminality and (un)belonging as they relate to Black queer and trans* African diasporic subjectivity. Ayo has been featured in Huffington Post Canada, The Fader, Flare Magazine, Manifesto, TFO, The Kit, the University of Toronto magazine, Munch Magazine and they have made music videos with Queer Songbook Orchestra, Lydia Persaud, Tika, Bernice, Desiire and Emma Frank. They have screened their films and appeared on panels at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Free, University of Toronto, George Brown, the Revue Cinema, Xpace Cultural Centre, and more.
Ayo Tsalithaba is a Yoruba and Sotho name that translates to “joy of the mountains”
(Ayo = “joy” in Yoruba, Tsa lithaba = “of the mountains” in Sotho).
Ayo uses they/them/theirs pronouns
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
2020 May NIA Centre DIGTL: Behind the Scenesā
2018 September POC Worldwide Screening
2018 June TIFF Bell Lightbox Screening of 'A Kiki with Bobby Bowen'
2018 April Facing History High School Film Career Tour
2018 March UofT Sanctuary Interrupted Closing Panel (moderator)
2018 March University of Toronto IDERD Panel on Anti-Black Racism
2018 February Klick Health Screening of 'Hallmark of Tolerance'
2018 February University of Toronto Scarborough Screening of 'Hallmark of Tolerance'
2018 January Hart House Screening of 'Hallmark of Tolerance'
2017 December TIFF Bell Lightbox Screening of 'Hallmark of Tolerance'
2017 November Black Women Film Screening of 'All Day All Night'
2017 October Queer Career Panel Woodsworth College
2017 October George Brown Screening of 'Hallmark of Tolerance'
2017 August Charles Street Video Screening of 'Hallmark of Tolerance'
2017 June Revue Cinema Screening of 'The Skin We're In'
2017 April 'Hallmark of Tolerance' Premiere