Following the Afronautic Trail
Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14
12pm–2pm
University of Toronto Art Centre
In Following the Afronautic Trail, artist Camille Turner invites participants on a two-day, multi-sensory exploration and interrogation of sites and monuments within the vicinity of the University of Toronto’s downtown campus. A part of the durational narratives explored within Turner’s body of work, including her 2022 Biennial works Nave and the Black Historical Navigational Toolkit co-authored with Yaniya Lee, this program brings often forgotten histories to the forefront—specifically, the evidence of Canada’s colonial linkages between the transatlantic trade of enslaved Africans and its ongoing legacies.
Beginning with a walk exploring the campus through guided visual and textual prompts, visitors will return to campus the following day and enter The Afronautic Research Lab—a futuristic reading room designed by Turner and performed by Outerregion, a group of collaborators including Karen Turner and Lee Turner. Through a workshop investigating archival resources, participants will have the opportunity to revisit their prompts in a new context to make palpable connections between the past and present.
This program is co-presented with the Toronto Biennial of Art and supported by the Toronto Arts Council, the City of Toronto, ArtworxTO, and Women Leading Initiative.
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Title and Page Image: Camille Turner, Afronautics Research Lab, AAPR at Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 2018. Performed by: Camille Turner, Lee Turner, and Karen Turner. Photo by Garrett Elliott. Courtesy of the artist.
