Fossilized Sunshine
July 30 - September 23, 2021
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Camille Turner and Camal Pirbhai
Shaheer Zazai Larissa Sansour Lisa Jackson Wally Dion Timothy Yanick Hunter Curated by Matthew Kyba Image: Lisa Jackson, Biidaaban: First Light, 2018, still from the immersive virtual reality film. |
Fossilized Sunshine brings together the work of 7 artists who explore the relationship between cultural archeology and decolonial future building. Through the exploration of different “counter futurisms” including Afghan, Palestinian, Indigenous, and Afro-Futurism, each project employs polyphonic communities’ artefacts and their respective cultural histories as the building blocks to imagine diverse fictional realities divorced from Eurocentric subjugation.
While conventional futurisms often centre ideas of visionary technology, space travel, and science-fictive elements, each included project focuses instead on ethnoarchaeology -- the study of self-contextualizing archaeological objects through the observation of contemporary cultures. Conflating past, present, and future, the artists include a range of archaeological materials as catalysts to (re)invent diverging future realities severed from Western hegemony. |
Artist biographies
Camal Pirbhai was born in Canada but raised in Switzerland and trained as a couturier in soft furnishings in the UK. Drawing from his expertise fabricating large-scale textile projects, hand-sewn furnishings and intricate embellishments, Camal has evolved a multidisciplinary artistic practice exploring a wide array of materials, media processes such as sculpture, fiber, installation, painting, performance and media art. Although the majority of Camal’s work is commissioned for private collectors and is recognized for its esthetic beauty there is always a deeper layer of meaning.
Shaheer Zazai is a Toronto based Afghan-Canadian artist with a current studio practice both in painting and digital media. Zazai received a BFA from OCAD University in 2011 and was artist in residence at OCAD University as part of the Digital Painting Atelier in 2015.
Zazai’s practice focuses on exploring and attempting to investigate the development of cultural identity in the present geopolitical climate and diaspora. The digital works revolve around Microsoft Word and imagery drawn from traditional Afghan carpets. Through mimicking carpet-making methods, Zazai creates his own designs in Microsoft Word, where every knot of a carpet is translated into a typed character. While the digital is a process based exploration, the paintings have been an internal investigation into vulnerability and fear.
Zazai is a recipient of Ontario Arts Council grants and he was a finalist for EQ Bank’s Emerging Digital Artist Award in 2018. Since graduating, Zazai has had several solo and group exhibitions such as those at the Capacity 3 Gallery, CAFKA Biennial 2019, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant., Double Happiness Projects and Patel Brown Gallery. His digital works have been covered by CBC Arts in 2018, Ajam Media Collective in 2019 and Globe and Mail in 2020.
Zazai’s practice focuses on exploring and attempting to investigate the development of cultural identity in the present geopolitical climate and diaspora. The digital works revolve around Microsoft Word and imagery drawn from traditional Afghan carpets. Through mimicking carpet-making methods, Zazai creates his own designs in Microsoft Word, where every knot of a carpet is translated into a typed character. While the digital is a process based exploration, the paintings have been an internal investigation into vulnerability and fear.
Zazai is a recipient of Ontario Arts Council grants and he was a finalist for EQ Bank’s Emerging Digital Artist Award in 2018. Since graduating, Zazai has had several solo and group exhibitions such as those at the Capacity 3 Gallery, CAFKA Biennial 2019, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant., Double Happiness Projects and Patel Brown Gallery. His digital works have been covered by CBC Arts in 2018, Ajam Media Collective in 2019 and Globe and Mail in 2020.
Born in East Jerusalem, Larissa Sansour (PS/DK) studied Fine Art in Copenhagen, London and New York. She represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Biennale. Recent solo exhibitions include Dar El-Nimer in Beirut, Bluecoat in Liverpool, Chapter in Cardiff, New Art Exchange in Nottingham and Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen. Sansour is represented by Lawrie Shabibi in Dubai and Montoro 12 Contemporary Art in Rome and Brussels. She lives and works in London.
Timothy Yanick Hunter is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Toronto Canada. Hunter's practice employs strategies of bricolage to examine non-neutral relationships relating to 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. Hunter's work often delves into speculative narratives and the intersections of physical space, digital space, and the intangible.
Wally Dion is a visual artist living and working in Binghamton, New York. He is a member of Yellow Quill First Nation (Salteaux). Dion holds a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Throughout much of his career, Dion’s work has contributed to a broad conversation in the art world about identity and power, and can be interpreted as part of a much larger pan-American struggle by Indigenous peoples to be recognized: culturally, economically, and politically, by settler societies. Utilizing large scale portraiture, found object sculpture, site specific installation & kinetic sculpture Dion has expanded upon this practice to include themes of personal history & spirituality.
Dion has exhibited extensively throughout Canada & the USA and has had numerous solo exhibitions including: Wally Dion: Current (2019), Boise Art Museum; Color Wheel (2017), Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg; Wally Dion: Star Blankets (2011), Ottawa Art Gallery; Thunderbird Series (2010), Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon; Red Worker (2008), Grunt Gallery, Vancouver; and Wally Dion (2008), MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina.
Dion has exhibited extensively throughout Canada & the USA and has had numerous solo exhibitions including: Wally Dion: Current (2019), Boise Art Museum; Color Wheel (2017), Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg; Wally Dion: Star Blankets (2011), Ottawa Art Gallery; Thunderbird Series (2010), Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon; Red Worker (2008), Grunt Gallery, Vancouver; and Wally Dion (2008), MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina.
Exhibition Programming
Disrupted Pasts, Displaced Futures
Films available on demand July 24 at 12pm EDT - July 27 at 11:59pm
Featuring: Meriem Bennani, Mariam Mekiwi, Larissa Sansour
Films available on demand July 24 at 12pm EDT - July 27 at 11:59pm
Featuring: Meriem Bennani, Mariam Mekiwi, Larissa Sansour
Disrupted Pasts, Displaced Futures is a selection of moving image works by contemporary artists from the Middle East and North Africa, blending science fiction, arabfuturism, and magic realism to tackle themes of displacement, migration, and climate crisis. Responding to an unstable present through the lens of the future, these alternate realities open a space where new possibilities emerge. This film program is presented by ArteEast as part of the ArteEast legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive in partnership with the VAC.
Tickets are free / Pay What You Can.
Tickets are free / Pay What You Can.
Don’t miss the live discussion with filmmakers Mariam Mekiwi and Larissa Sansour, moderated by ArteEast’s film curator Ginou Choueiri.
Livestream discussion: Saturday July 24 from 12.30 -2 pm EDT.
Livestream discussion: Saturday July 24 from 12.30 -2 pm EDT.
Party on the CAPS, Meriem Bennani, Morocco, 2018, 26min
Synopsis: In a world where teleportation has replaced planes, a wacky crocodile named Fiona tells of life on the CAPS: an island-turned-refugee-camp for illegal immigrants caught mid-teleportation. Themes of displacement, biotechnology and privacy are evoked through the augmented reality of a raucous birthday party in the Moroccan quarter of the CAPS. Mixing the languages of reality TV, advertising, documentary and high-end commercial aesthetics, Bennani explores the potential of storytelling through magical realism and humour.
Synopsis: In a world where teleportation has replaced planes, a wacky crocodile named Fiona tells of life on the CAPS: an island-turned-refugee-camp for illegal immigrants caught mid-teleportation. Themes of displacement, biotechnology and privacy are evoked through the augmented reality of a raucous birthday party in the Moroccan quarter of the CAPS. Mixing the languages of reality TV, advertising, documentary and high-end commercial aesthetics, Bennani explores the potential of storytelling through magical realism and humour.
Before I Forget (Abel Ma Insa), Mariam Mekiwi, Egypt/Germany, 2018, 30min
Synopsis: El Captain disappears, one of his disciples takes a journey in the ocean to cut off the internet cable, the water level is rising, an amphibian woman appears at the shore looking for her mother, and the memories of two women in a ward intertwine. Scientist Dr. Sharaf is trying to congregate all of them – the members of the secret society of amphibians – in an attempt to save the world.
Synopsis: El Captain disappears, one of his disciples takes a journey in the ocean to cut off the internet cable, the water level is rising, an amphibian woman appears at the shore looking for her mother, and the memories of two women in a ward intertwine. Scientist Dr. Sharaf is trying to congregate all of them – the members of the secret society of amphibians – in an attempt to save the world.
In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain
Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind, Palestine, State of, UK, Denmark, Qatar, 2015, 29min
Synopsis: Combining live-action and computer-generated imagery, In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain explores the role of myth in history, fact, and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain, which they suggest belonged to an entirely fictional civilization. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their vanishing lands.
Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind, Palestine, State of, UK, Denmark, Qatar, 2015, 29min
Synopsis: Combining live-action and computer-generated imagery, In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain explores the role of myth in history, fact, and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain, which they suggest belonged to an entirely fictional civilization. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their vanishing lands.
Nation Estate (clip) from larissa sansour on Vimeo.
Nation Estate, Larissa Sansour, Palestine/Denmark, 2013, 9min
Synopsis: Nation Estate is a 9-minute sci-fi short film offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East. With a mixture of computer generated imagery, live actors and arabesque electronica, Nation Estate explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood. In Sansour’s film, Palestinians have their state in the form of a single skyscraper: the Nation Estate. One colossal high-rise houses the entire Palestinian population – now finally living the high life.
Synopsis: Nation Estate is a 9-minute sci-fi short film offering a clinically dystopian, yet humorous approach to the deadlock in the Middle East. With a mixture of computer generated imagery, live actors and arabesque electronica, Nation Estate explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood. In Sansour’s film, Palestinians have their state in the form of a single skyscraper: the Nation Estate. One colossal high-rise houses the entire Palestinian population – now finally living the high life.
Biographies
Meriem Bennani (b. 1988 in Rabat, Morocco) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Juxtaposing and mixing the language of reality TV, documentaries, phone footage, animation, and high production aesthetics, she explores the potential of storytelling while amplifying reality through a strategy of magical realism and humour. She has been developing a shape-shifting practice of films, sculptures and immersive installations, composed with a subtle agility to question our contemporary society and its fractured identities, gender issues and ubiquitous dominance of digital technologies. Bennani’s work has been shown at the Whitney Biennale, MoMA PS1, Art Dubai, The Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Public Art Fund, CLEARING and The Kitchen in New York. Her animated series, 2 Lizards, a collaboration with director Orian Barki, premiered on Instagram during Spring 2020 and was described by The New York Times as “hypnotic…deploying a blend of documentary structure and animation surrealism…both poignantly grounded in actual events and also soothingly fantastical” and its animated protagonists “art stars.” (Jon Caramanica, April 2020)
Mariam Mekiwi is a film editor and filmmaker from Alexandria and currently based in Berlin, where she is an associate fellow of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of the Arts in Berlin UdK with her feature film project "EL Markebba EL OMM - mothership". She completed her MFA at the University of the Arts in Hamburg HfBk in 2017. Her fiction film "Abl ma ansa - Before I forget" premiered at the Berlinale in 2018 and was nominated to the FIRST STEPS AWARDS in the same year. Her work circulated in various film festivals and art venues like the Sharjah film platform, Oberhausen film festival, Contemporary Image Collective Cairo CIC, Haifa Independent film festival, Hamburger Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe among others.
Larissa Sansour was born in 1973 in East Jerusalem, Palestine, and studied fine arts in London, New York and Copenhagen. Central to her work is the dialectics between myth and historical narrative. In her recent works, she uses science fiction to address social and political issues. Working mainly with film, Sansour also produces installations, photos and sculptures. Sansour’s work is shown in film festivals and museums worldwide. In 2019, she represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Biennial. In 2020, she was the shared recipient of the prestigious Jarman Award. She has shown her work at Tate Modern, MoMA, Centre Pompidou and the Istanbul Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include Copenhagen Contemporary in Denmark, Bluecoat in Liverpool, Bildmuseet in Umeå and Dar El-Nimer in Beirut. Sansour currently lives and works in London, UK.
Mariam Mekiwi is a film editor and filmmaker from Alexandria and currently based in Berlin, where she is an associate fellow of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of the Arts in Berlin UdK with her feature film project "EL Markebba EL OMM - mothership". She completed her MFA at the University of the Arts in Hamburg HfBk in 2017. Her fiction film "Abl ma ansa - Before I forget" premiered at the Berlinale in 2018 and was nominated to the FIRST STEPS AWARDS in the same year. Her work circulated in various film festivals and art venues like the Sharjah film platform, Oberhausen film festival, Contemporary Image Collective Cairo CIC, Haifa Independent film festival, Hamburger Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe among others.
Larissa Sansour was born in 1973 in East Jerusalem, Palestine, and studied fine arts in London, New York and Copenhagen. Central to her work is the dialectics between myth and historical narrative. In her recent works, she uses science fiction to address social and political issues. Working mainly with film, Sansour also produces installations, photos and sculptures. Sansour’s work is shown in film festivals and museums worldwide. In 2019, she represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Biennial. In 2020, she was the shared recipient of the prestigious Jarman Award. She has shown her work at Tate Modern, MoMA, Centre Pompidou and the Istanbul Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include Copenhagen Contemporary in Denmark, Bluecoat in Liverpool, Bildmuseet in Umeå and Dar El-Nimer in Beirut. Sansour currently lives and works in London, UK.
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