Ajani Charles is a Toronto-based professional photographer, director, producer, mental health advocate, and Canon Canada ambassador with a background in fine arts who specializes in creating impactful stories about the human condition, self-actualization, and mental health.
PROJECT T-DOT
AT
BILLY BISHOP TORONTO CITY AIRPORT
A year-long art exhibit that is part of Ajani Charles’ documentary project on Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history.
Photography
Photography Projects
Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip-hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992.
Project T-Dot is a documentary project on Toronto’s hip-hop culture and community, which Ajani Charles began capturing in December of 2006, primarily through black and white photography, and is still in production.
This is a series of photographs summarizing Ajani Charles’ time spent in Shanghai, China, during the winter of 2012.
This is a series of photographs summarizing Ajani Charles’ time spent with a group of camel trainers in Qatar’s Zekreet desert.
Ajani Charles originally shot the images herein for an article that summarizes his thoughts on the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic while living in the downtown core of Toronto.
CONTINUUM is a meditative generated animation and installation by Toronto's own Krista Kim, a contemporary artist and founder of the Techism movement since 2014, promoting the confluence of art and technology, and technological innovation as a medium to further the development of digital humanism, in collaboration with recording artist Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins and many others.
Mental Health Projects
As of 2019, Ajani Charles has been a journalist for Thrive Global, a behaviour change technology and media organization to support individuals struggling with stress and burnout.
Operation Prefrontal Cortex was co-founded by renowned filmmaker Julien Christian Lutz, professionally known as Director X, and his longtime friend Danell Adams after Lutz’s experience as a victim of public gun violence in Toronto, and it is a program harnessing the power of mindfulness and meditation to help reduce the incidents of gun violence, mass violence, and police violence in Toronto.
Project Healthy Minds is a new millennial/Gen Z-driven non-profit startup focused on tackling one of the defining issues of the 21st century: the growing mental health crisis.
Ajani Charles has worked with Calm as an ambassador and producer, writing articles on behalf of the company, promoting the many mental health benefits of Calm’s platform to his audience, producing photographs for the company and being featured in the platform’s Calm Stories series.
Mindfulness And Other Crucial Skills I Never Learned In High School is a workshop by Ajani Charles, initially designed for high school students throughout the Toronto District School Board.
Ajani Charles has worked as a mentor through CAMH: The Centre For Addiction And Mental Health, Canada’s largest mental health institution, since 2017.
In 2021, Ajani Charles launched a series of meditation playlists via Spotify to provide his audience with easily-accessible audio for mindfulness meditations.
Mindfulness Consulting
Ajani’s work as a mindfulness consultant empowers his clients to transcend their fears, insecurities, and system inefficiencies in service of their goals.
Design
Sama is a Sanskrit word that describes the quality of calmness and tranquillity of the mind, which is highly valued in the Vedas and yogic philosophy. It is an experience of inner peace and equanimity, as described by ancient yogis. To experience sama, the mind must be under control.
Speaking
Ajani Charles was commissioned to discuss the intersections of personal finance, mental health, mindfulness, and creativity with the CEO of Conscious Economics, Rosalind Rhiannon, as part of the organization’s Mindfulness & Money program.
Through Canon Canada, Ajani Charles was commissioned to facilitate three workshops on mental health and introspection on behalf of Canon U.S.A.’s Get Up & Go With Canon …
Artscape is a not-for-profit urban development organization that makes space for creativity and transforms communities.
In partnership with the Daniels Corporation, Artscape Daniels Launchpad is a central creative hub in Toronto.
The World Affairs Conference (WAC) is North America’s largest and Canada’s oldest annual student-run current events conference that provides high-quality discussion opportunities for thousands of inspired, curious, and globally-minded high school students worldwide.
Partnerships
Ajani Charles has been shooting exclusively with Canon products, beginning with Canon SLR cameras and lenses, since the age of twelve, when he began learning the art and technologies of photography through the Toronto School of Art. His formal photography education continued through the Claude Watson Arts program at fourteen.
Press
Blog
I am honoured and grateful to announce that Nieuport Aviation presents my second solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Proudly sponsored by Sony Music Entertainment Canada and part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival’s 2024 programming, it is located past the airport’s underground tunnel, specifically in its terminal.
One of the most fulfilling aspects of my career, especially in recent years, has been contributing to the Canon FUTURES program as a mentor.
On Thursday, September 28, 2023, I attended the Art Gallery of Ontario's (AGO) annual fundraiser, Art Bash!, for the first time.
Last week, beginning on Saturday, November 18, 2023, I attended ComplexCon for the first time in Long Beach, California, specifically at the Long Beach Convention Centre.
The second last episode of season 1 of Robyn Hood airs tonight, Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at 10:00 PM EST through Global TV and Stack TV, and the season finale airs next Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
Last week, on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, I attended the second annual World Mental Health Day Festival in New York City, specifically at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, through an American mental health non-profit organization I have collaborated with for the last three years, Project Healthy Minds.
Through Corus Entertainment and Boat Rocker Media, the new scripted television series Robyn Hood, a modern adaptation of the classic Robyn Hood myth, debuted this Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 10:00 PM EST via Global TV and Stack TV.
Mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition, known as sati in Pali, is fundamental to the tradition and all forms of meditation.
On Saturday, August 26, 2023, I attended an exclusive screening of the new scripted television series Robyn Hood at Fan Expo Canada before the show’s debut on September 27th via Global TV and Stack TV, and it was simultaneously my first time experiencing a TV’s show’s screening and the popular expo.
On Saturday, August 5, 2023, I attended and documented the largest street festival in North America, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s Grande Parade, which many Torontonians and others worldwide often call the Caribana parade.
Last Friday, August 11, 2023, was the 50th anniversary of hip-hop culture. I had the good fortune of being interviewed on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning about the momentous occasion, the impact of hip-hop culture on a global scale, Toronto’s hip-hop culture, Project T-Dot, which is my documentary project on Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history, and other related topics.
On Wednesday, January 24, 2024, I woke up at approximately 6:00 AM EST to prepare for the media event on behalf of my new solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which showcases my 18-year-old documentary project on Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history.