Timothy Yanick Hunter at Small Arms Inspection Building

Timothy Yanick Hunter’s practice considers the impact of colonial, capitalist histories, and their lasting effects in Africa and throughout the Diaspora. Hunter’s strategies of bricolage examine non-neutral relationships, centring Black and Afro-diasporic experiences as well as concurrent strategies of decolonization. His approach alternates between exploratory and didactic; with a focus on the political, cultural, and social richness of the Black Diaspora often delving into speculative narratives and the intersections of physical space, digital space, and the intangible.

In True and Functional (2022), Hunter explores remix as a participatory event employing techniques of audio sampling, video collage and printmaking – a synthesis of digital archiving, research and reinterpretation. Referenced here are excerpts such as an interview with pioneering Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta, documentary footage from South African ballerina and choreographer, Kitty Phetla, as well as Darcus Howe speaking on the colonial suppression of Reggae music; all appearing as both fragmented and rhythmic, familiar and non-linear.

Hunter sees this study and bridge-building in the diaspora as a necessary task. By extension, screens are a major subject of the artist’s address for their centrality in our access to the world. Hunter questions the assumed neutrality of the screen by presenting them in experimental orientations and functions, causing the viewer to navigate them differently than in everyday life.

Commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art, Ngozi: We Might Listen for the Shimmerings is organized by Chiedza Pasipanodya, as a part of the 2022 Curatorial Fellowship program, made possible by the generous support of TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment, and with support from the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council. Ngozi features the work of Anne Zanele Mutema, Buhlebezwe Siwani, and Timothy Yanick Hunter.

Audio Didactic: