Nebulous Straits
As considerations of what futurisms of many different diasporas in art can be are expanded, visions of collective futures can become cloudy. However, ‘Nebulous Straits’ offers an approach to diasporic futurisms that allowed 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.
‘Nebulous Straits’ was a virtual residency hosted by Diasporic Futurisms. The residency facilitated space for three residents, Rihab Essayh, Josephine Lee, and Faune Ybarra, to:
- expand their community through weekly meetings,
- build on their knowledge for the field of practice through group - - discussions, readings, and discussions,
- develop a new or existing project relating to themes of diasporic futurisms,
- participate in a public feedback session,
- and exhibit their artwork in a cumulative online exhibition.
Each artist developed their work in this residency in relation to a wide array of themes and within different modes of production—making dandelion jam and sewing leaves as decolonial gestures, developing armor for marginalized people that cares for the wearer, and building digitized visions of textile worlds in SketchUp that honor the collective agencies of SWANA women.
A virtual talkback session was scheduled to take place in partnership with Inter/Access on December 1 between 6pm and 7:30pm. The talkback session served as an opportunity for each of the residents to present the work they’ve developed in the program and preview some of the work that will be included in the virtual exhibition. The last thirty minutes of the session was dedicated to responding to curator and audience questions.
The ‘Nebulous Straits’ virtual exhibition rann from December 1 – December 15 and could be access via diasporicfuturisms.com
In this gallery, you can find documentation of the online exhibition.
‘Nebulous Straits’ was funded through the Toronto Arts Council.