BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - October 2019

Artist to Watch
TONYE AGANABA
BELIEVES ALL LIFE
EXPERIENCES ARE A GIFT –
BOTH GOOD AND BAD
By YASMINE SHEMESH
C
urled up on the couch in
their living room, Tonye
Aganaba is gushing over
Star Trek. The multidisciplinary
artist insists the
sci-fi series was ahead of its time in terms of
social progressiveness: it had African American
women in visible and authoritative roles;
it was one of the first to air an interracial kiss;
an episode featured a same-sex kiss. For
Aganaba, a gender-fluid person of colour, the
representation is powerful and important.
Across Aganaba’s living room walls are their
paintings—each one portraying a woman from
the shoulders up. Painting is something that
helps with their fine motor skills, the deterioration
of which was an early symptom of the
Multiple Sclerosis they were diagnosed with in
2015.
“The disease that I have been…gifted,” Aganaba
grins, cradling a mug of coffee, “attacks
a couple of things. One, it attacks my memory.
Two, it attacks my energy levels. And, three,
it is triggered by anxiety. My body just short
circuits and behaves in ways that are not easy
to deal with. But I find that the more I stay connected
to a regular practice of being in front
of a canvas or being behind an instrument or
singing, the less neurological incidents I have.
The difference between me painting and not
painting is like — if I don't do that, I'll have to
take medication, basically, to get the same kind
of effect.”
The paintings will be displayed in a collaborative
exhibition—Aganaba’s first—#AfroScience,
held at the Cheeky Proletariat. “I suffer
from imposter syndrome, massively,” they
laugh. “I think that anyone can be anything and,
by doing an art show, it makes me an artist.”
Aganaba is being modest, because the paintings
are beautiful and captivating. Proceeds of
any sales will go towards Give Thanks Day—an
annual music, art, and community-driven project
they’re involved with and reference often.
The exhibition also serves as a preview for their
new album, Something Comfortable, before its
release at the end of the month.
The album is a triumph, both sonically and
spiritually. Aganaba describes it as their life’s
work: “It's the thing I'm most proud of. It’s the
thing that I know I will stand by forever.” Their
husband, Aaron Hamblin—who quickly pops into
the room to kiss Aganaba’s forehead—produced
and engineered it. He’s also the subject of “Make
This House a Home,” one of the standout tracks,
that was written while he was away tree planting
and Aganaba was missing him.
When looking at their life thus far, Aganaba
believes things happen for a reason. Without
the diagnosis, they would have never learned to
paint. They would have never said yes to having
that dinner with their now-husband. They would
have never moved to the coast and made this
record.
“We make decisions every day,” Aganaba
says. “I believe that there are things that are
just meant to be. But we decide. I'm grateful for
where I’m at and I'm grateful for the fact that,
so far, I wake up every day and I decide that I
want to take a step forward towards being the
kind of person that I want to be.”
Tonye Aganaba performs Thursday, Oct. 26 at the
Fox Cabaret. #AfroScience runs October 1-31, 2019
at The Cheeky Proletariat.
LIZ ROSA
OCTOBER 2019 BEATROUTE 17