Occupy Space Exhibit: Time Travel Talismans Workshop October 1, 2016

Occupy Space Exhibit & Workshop 

Aug - October 2016

Farah Yusuf Curator

Farah Yusuf, Nat & Ashley (L space Director) 

Occupy Space taps into other-worldly imaginaries to address the social reality of Canadian diversity. The creators of the works featured in this exhibition move in from the margins to occupy speculative realms of popular culture – where the politics of inclusion remain contested.

The exhibition is grounded in Afrofuturism, which began in the ‘60s as a musical and literary genre that merges modern technology, African roots and futuristic imagery. By allegorically linking space travel with the forced migration of Africans slaves, Afrofuturism provides a platform to imagine alternative narratives of black identity that are empowered and self-determined.

A constellation of ethnically diverse and Indigenous futurisms have recently emerged to address similar themes of cultural alienation and reclamation. These narratives reject the idea of a compulsory black, Indigenous, or ethnic identity relegated to a historical past. By using visionary fiction as a blueprint for cosmic liberation, these futurisms are revolutionary acts of resistance to the whitewashing of western media. The impulse is no different from the current widespread use of Occupy Movement’s imperative to “take up space” on sites of tension to demand change.

 

Artists: Nicholas Galanin, Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, Rajni Perera with Richard Thomas, Natalie Wood

Curated by Humber Galleries' Curator in Residence Farah Yusuf

http://www.humbergalleries.ca/exhibitions/l-space/occupy-space

Resource guide : Provides text and writing on the works in the exhibition.

Space Travel Talisman Workshop with Natalie Wood

Join me for a hands-on workshop in creating a space travel talisman. Participants will be provided with symbolic materials and be instructed in how to create their own talisman to use in their travels through time and space. The piece they create will ground them to their specific time for their return voyage, protect them in their travels and direct them to the time/ space to which they are traveling.

Humber Art Galleries - L Space
Lakeshore Campus
Room L1002
19 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive
Toronto, ON M8V 4B6

http://www.humbergalleries.ca/events/space-travel-talisman-workshop-natalie-wood