Following the Afronautic Trail

In Following the Afronautic Trail, artist Camille Turner invites participants on a two-day, multisensory 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 performers including Karen Turner and Lee Turner. Being Afronautic researchers and social practitioners, Outerregion offers perception-altering experiences that bring into view what is hidden in plain sight. In Following the Afronautic Trail, participants are invited to become co-investigators, joining us in unearthing the silenced and suppressed Black past embedded in geographic space and in the archive. 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 two-part program will take place May 13 and 14, 2022 from 12–2pm each day. If registration for the program is at capacity, please email programmingandlearning@torontobiennial.org to be added to the waitlist.

This program is co-presented with the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and supported by the Toronto Arts Council, the City of Toronto, ArtworxTO, and Women Leading Initiative.

Image credit: Camille Turner, Following the Afronautic Trail, May 13–14, 2022. Program held at Art Museum at the University of Toronto as part of Toronto Biennial of Art 2022. Photography: Roxanne Fernandes.