Introducing Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

A Promotional Graphic For Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

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.

Fully accessible and bilingual (with French and English text), it is the largest art exhibit ever to be installed at the airport, available to the general public, including millions of travellers, for free, without purchasing an airline ticket or paying an entrance fee, for the next year until early 2025. It is open daily between 5:00 AM EST and 11:59 PM EST.

Following the success of my first solo Project T-Dot art exhibit at Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square in 2022, which was, and still is, the largest art exhibit to be installed on the exterior of Toronto City Hall and which was, and still is the largest art exhibit on hip-hop culture in Canadian history, Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport summarizes and is part of my 18-year-old documentary project on Toronto’s hip-hop culture, community, and history.

It features 60 large-scale black and white vinyl prints (with images shot exclusively with Canon cameras and lenses) on three interior walls, a printed information panel and banner, and a 55-inch touchscreen that will be updated throughout the exhibit’s duration, with the first phase of digital content being shared by late February 2024, featuring supplementary information and educating the general public on the incredible people that define Toronto’s diverse hip-hop scene in detail. Globally, it will be the first comprehensive database featuring a major city’s hip-hop community and will only be available at the airport (for now).

The exhibit’s prints feature over 80 members of Toronto’s hip-hop community. Once the exhibit’s touchscreen has been fully populated with written and visual content, including photographs and videos, it will feature over 120 members of Toronto’s hip-hop community, describing their careers and contributions to Toronto’s hip-hop culture and history in detail, as well as their positive impact on Toronto, Canada, and the world.

The exhibit features notable figures, including but not limited to Baby Yu, Boi-1da, Chris Bosh, Click, Director X, Drake, Future The Prince, Haviah Mighty, Jessie Reyez, Jonathan Ramos, Jully Black, Kardinal Offishall, Killy, Lissa Monet, Maestro Fresh Wes, Marlon Palmer, Mastermind, Master T, Monika Deole, Moses Znaimer, Ron Nelson, SAFE, Shawn Desman, SKAM, Skratch Bastid, Smoke Dawg, Starting From Scratch, TOBi, The Weeknd, and Tyrone Edwards, and influential organizations, including but not limited to 100 Miles Brand, Advance Music Canada, Bag of Trix, Battle of The Beatmakers, Flow 93.5, Do Dat Entertainment, Ground Illusionz, Honey Jam, Hong Shing Restaurant, Justice Fund, Manifesto Community Projects, MuchMusic, Play De Record, October's Very Own, Operation Prefrontal Cortex, Roots Rhymes Collective, The Circle, The Forgiveness Project, The Remix Project, The Toronto Raptors, and Too Black Guys.

Exhibition: Project T-Dot, Location: Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Year: 2024, Photographer: Ajani Charles

Following the willpower and many other resources I have invested and continue to invest into documenting every aspect of Toronto's hip-hop scene and ultimately telling the stories of Toronto hip-hop since December 2006, Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport required an enormous amount of faith, energy, ambition, concentration, coordination, and more on my part, through Nieuport Aviation, which is the owner and operator of the terminal building at the airport, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, the City of Toronto, and other dedicated partners like Canon Canada, and the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. The exhibit informally and formally took about a year and four months to come to fruition between my first conversation with Nieuport Aviation and today, and it is some of my best work as a producer.

Essential contributors to the production of Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport include PortsToronto, ICON Digital Productions, and Dot2Dot Communications; their support has been indispensable in ensuring the exhibit is well-prepared for success.

I will share far more information on this, one of my most ambitious projects over the next year, including behind-the-scenes insights and an upcoming event focusing on the exhibit in the coming weeks and months while engaging in numerous (personally tailored) exhibition tours.

In the meantime, I thank every person and organization that I have documented for Project T-Dot over nearly two decades, everyone who has educated me on Toronto’s vibrant hip-hop culture, community, and history, and everyone who has encouraged me to remain committed to the production of Project T-Dot as a whole, and everyone who has contributed to Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

More specifically, thank you to Nieuport Aviation’s board of directors; Neil Pakey, President & CEO at Nieuport Aviation; Nadia Dzula, Manager, Corporate and Community Programs at Nieuport Aviation; Cheryl Stone, Director, Stakeholder Relations at Nieuport Aviation; Ryan White, Senior Manager, Communications and Public Affairs at Nieuport Aviation; Juan Cortes, Project Manager at Nieuport Aviation; Carey Riley, Director of Artist Marketing at Sony Music Entertainment Canada; Samantha Taus, Senior Manager, National Media Relations at Sony Music Entertainment Canada; Brian St. Denis, Festival Coordinator at Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival; Brett Gaskell, Senior Director, Customer Experience at Canon Canada, Nicholas Tomic, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at Canon Canada; Yasmine Perez-Achig, Content and Event Production Specialist at Canon Canada; Shane Kannampuzha, Account Executive at ICON Digital Productions; Sheena Gibson, Creative Manager at ICON Digital Productions; Brandon Moore, Creative Designer at ICON Digital Productions; Shawn O’Brien, Creative Technology Consultant at Dot2Dot Communications; Armin Braunsberger, Creative Director & CEO at Braunsberger Media; my production company The Ark Media Group’s legal counsel John Wires, Founder of Wires Law; my publicist Randy Phipps, Founder of RP Communications; my executive assistant Danica Villanueva, Anthony Delacruz, my student through the Canon FUTURES program Chara Ho, and Keegan Tam (who are currently helping me to produce the promotional video for my exhibit through my production company), Hong Shing Restaurant for catering the installation of the exhibit, as well as Toronto City Council; the amazing City of Toronto executives that advocated for Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport; the Ports Toronto board of directors; Roelof-Jan (RJ) Steenstra, President & CEO of PortsToronto, my student through the Canon FUTURES program Taylor Patterson who was the first to cover the exhibit for blogTO, and everyone else that helped to move Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport forward, including but not limited to my amazing, supportive parents Asselin and Ketty.

This article is insufficient for me to express the gratitude and awe that I feel regarding the fact that one of my most unique and challenging art exhibits has come to fruition; it is a dream come true, and I am more inspired than ever to complete other facets of Project T-Dot, which highlights likely the world’s most culturally diverse and innovative hip-hop community. This community includes members of 2SLGBTQIA+, Black, and Indigenous communities, women, youth from equity-deserving neighbourhoods, and newcomers who have maximized far fewer resources than those residing in hip-hop meccas like New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

Nieuport Aviation’s President & CEO, Neil Pakey, recently stated the following about Project T-Dot at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport: “As the owner and operator of the terminal building at Billy Bishop Airport, Nieuport Aviation is committed to not only playing a vital role in connecting travellers to the places they want to be but also to connecting our neighbours and travellers Toronto’s vibrant culture.”

I thank all visitors in advance, and in keeping with the interactive nature of the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences of the art and Project T-Dot on social media using the hashtag #projecttdot, and by tagging me (@ajaniphoto) and in the meantime, the exhibit’s press release can be viewed here.

Introducing Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

The Media Event For Project T-Dot At Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

The Canon FUTURES Program Graduation 2023