Nebulous Straits
curated by Diasporic Futurisms
The ‘Nebulous Straits’ virtual exhibition is the culmination of a six week artists’ residency facilitated by Diasporic Futurisms hosting Rihab Essayh, Josephine Lee, and Faune Ybarra.
As considerations of what futurisms of many different diasporas in art can be are expanded, visions of collective futures can become cloudy. ‘Nebulous Straits’ offers an approach to diasporic futurisms that allows diasporic artists to find tethers to vast oceans of knowledge and care that center the notion that many voices, perspectives, and visions can be made possible alongside and in support of one another.
Each artist is developing their work in this residency in relation to a wide array of themes and within different modes of production—making dandelion jam as a decolonial gesture, developing armor for marginalized people that cares for the wearer, and building digitized visions of textile communities that prioritize softness.
The residency culminates in a public talkback session co-hosted with InterAccess on December 1 between 6 pm and 7:30 pm est as well as a digital exhibition from December 1 - 15, 2022.
Nebulous Straits is produced with the support of the City of Toronto through Toronto Arts Council.
Diasporic Futurisms (Adrienne Matheuszik and Vanessa Godden) is a curatorial collaborative endeavor that works to create space for marginalized and racialized people whose artworks are based in the genre of diasporic futurisms.
Matheuszik and Godden define diasporic futurisms as the presentation of alternative perspectives of the present, predictions of the future, and creative approaches to reimagining the past. Within this movement of diasporic futurisms, the destabilization of white-supremacy, colonisation, and capitalism in relation to the lives of diasporic peoples are a primary concern. In diasporic futurisms, these concerns are materialized through the genres of Fantasy, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, and related subgenres.
Diasporic Futurisms are working towards radically reimaging and reimagining diasporic futurisms in the arts. We began this project by thinking about how to build programming through the impact of a global pandemic and the increased visibility of police brutality. Diasporic Futurisms is continually working to build immersive and inclusive arts experiences using digital technologies.
