Vintage Black Canada : A Doon Village Introspection
On exhibit in the Martin House of Doon Heritage Village September 20
Register for special guided tours and see open dates below.
Free guided tours with artist and photographer Aaron Francis.
- Saturday, October 18 from 2 to 3 p.m.
- Saturday, November 15 from 2 to 3 p.m.
- Saturday, December 20 from 2 to 3 p.m.
Register for these events on Eventbrite.
Self-guided tours, included with general admission. These events do not require advance registration.
- Sunday, September 28 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, October 5 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, October 12 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, November 2 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, November 9 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, November 23 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, November 30 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, December 7 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, December 14 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, December 28 from 1 to 3 p.m.
This exhibition at Martin House, in the heart of Doon Heritage Village, invites visitors to reflect on the ways that different histories that have shaped the cultural fabric of Waterloo Region, can exist side by side. Martin House, itself originally built in the 1820s by Mennonite settlers, has long stood as a reminder of perseverance and community. It also carries with it the layered story of the Martin family - early immigrants from Pennsylvania whose home hosted worship services, family generations, and even the “Doddy Haus,” an addition that gave aging relatives private living space within the larger household.
Within this setting, A Village Introspection introduces photographs from the Vintage Black Canada™ archive, curated by Aaron T. Francis and organized across three broad thematic strands. The first captures rural life in the Caribbean, evoking traditions of resourcefulness, familial bonds, and agricultural self-sufficiency. The second turns to immigrant life in post-war England, a period marked by both the hardships of displacement and the quiet dignity of everyday resilience. Finally, the third strand explores new beginnings in Waterloo Region, offering a glimpse at the evolving sense of belonging experienced by Caribbean immigrants and their descendants. Each of these strands parallels the Mennonite story as it has traditionally been showcased in Martin House.
The exhibition also directly engages the house itself. Among several traditional Caribbean family artifacts, the pantry on the main floor has been redressed to echo culinary traditions and domestic practices that connect across cultures, offering a sensory bridge between past and present. Upon entering the front door parlour, visitors will also be greeted by a selection of music in the classic Caribbean tradition emanating from a vinyl exhibit made to resemble one used by Caribbean families in the late 1960s.
By inserting Black culture in a Mennonite house, we invite visitors to learn more about local immigration stories and to discover similarities between these histories. We do not seek to erase or superimpose but rather to highlight the enduring ways communities remake place, belonging, and each other, and, in doing so, imagine worlds otherwise.
Together, these photographs and Caribbean household artifacts offer not only a window into Black life but also a reminder of its resonances with other stories of migration and community. Set within Martin House, with its deep Mennonite roots and history of family continuity, the exhibition underscores how different communities have built belonging in Waterloo Region through work, ritual, creativity, and care.
Ultimately, this project asks visitors to consider how different communities - whether Mennonite families in the 19th century or Caribbean immigrants in the 20th - have navigated migration, adaptation, and the building of community in Waterloo Region. By placing these stories together, we are not erasing one with the other. Rather, we highlight shared labours, shared aspirations, and the ways people make space for belonging. In this way, Martin House becomes a meeting place of histories - one that encourages us to see local life through multiple lenses.
Curator, Aaron T. Francis
Aaron T. Francis is a doctoral student at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo researching the role of art and culture on Jamaican foreign policy. Aaron is also a community archivist, curator and the founder of Vintage Black Canada.
Founded in 2019, Vintage Black Canada is a multidisciplinary creative archive that documents the transnational modern history of the African Diaspora in Canada. Art, video and photographs from this initiative have been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario (2021, 2023), University of Waterloo Art Gallery (2023), Maclean's magazine (2023) and in several award winning documentaries including CBC’s Black Life: Untold Stories (2023) and CityTV’s Black Community Mixtapes (2023).