Camal Pirbhai and Camille Turner: Where We Stand

Camal Pirbhai and Camille Turner, Charles, from the WANTED series, 2016/2019

Camal Pirbhai and Camille Turner: Where We Stand

May 16 to June 29, 2019

Opening Reception
Thursday, May 16 from 7pm – 9pm
Artists will be in attendance. Remarks at 7:30pm

The past, present and future collide in the collaborative work of Camal Pirbhai and Camille Turner, where the overlooked and ignored histories of transatlantic slavery in Canada are revealed. The artists work with historical documents from the archive to shed light on this dark past as a means to educate and create a better future. The WANTED series consists of 10 large-scale photographs that acknowledge and respond to runaway advertisements posted by Canadian slave owners in late 18th century newspapers. These interdisciplinary works where performance, photography and the archive meet, transform the descriptive texts of humans as property into contemporary fashion ads presenting a fresh and empowered lens in which to look back and ahead. These powerful images will accompany the video installation, Family Matters, a work that also plays with time travel, reimagining the story of an enslaved mother and son who were offered for sale in an 1806 Upper Canada Gazette advertisement. This exhibition continues Latcham Art Centre’s ongoing commitment to provide a voice for artists whose work explores the ideas and experiences of multiculturalism throughout the province and country.

Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, May 16 from 7 – 9pm. Artist remarks will begin at 7:30pm.

Camal Pirbhai is a multidisciplinary artist, whose practice extends beyond his masterly crafted couture textile pieces, creating more explicitly conceptual works through installation, sculpture, video, photography and performance. Raised in Switzerland and mastering the skilled trade of sewing in London, UK, Camal has built a career designing custom textile collections for some of the most prestigious architects and interior designers across Canada and abroad. His desire to blur the lines between design and contemporary art can be seen in his projects that merge fashion and design with sculpture, performance and new media. Since 2013, Camal has collaborated with Camille Turner on a variety of projects including a site-specific exhibition Tableaux at Scarborough’s Guildwood Park (2014), WANTED (2016) at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the video installation Family Matters (2017).

Camille Turner’s practice explores race, space, home and belonging. Born in Jamaica and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, her work calls into question the contradictions of multiculturalism in Canada and the countless examples of untold or erased Black histories in this country. She questions how a history can just simply disappear and mines the archive to inform her multidisciplinary work that manifests through performance, photography, video and interactive site-specific activations. Collaboration is an important component of her practice, working with other artists, performers, scholars and historians to build a network for change that not only reveals missing histories, but imagines new ways to think about the future of Blackness. Camille is the founder of Outerregion, an Afrofuturist performance group. She has lectured at various institutions such as University of Toronto, Algoma University and Toronto School of Art and is a graduate of Ontario College of Art and Design and York University’s Masters in Environmental Studies program where she is currently a PhD candidate.

Camal Pirbhai and Camille Turner, Family Matters, still from video installation, 2017

Latcham Art Centre is dedicated to providing opportunities for members of the community to engage with the visual arts through exhibitions of contemporary art and art education programs like classes, workshops, artist talks and tours. It is funded by donations, sponsorships, membership and fundraising events as well as annual grants from the municipality of Whitchurch-Stouffville and the Ontario Arts Council. The Art Centre is located in Stouffville, Ontario, 45 minutes northeast of Toronto with free parking and accessible via GO Transit.

For more information please contact:
Elisa Coish | Curator | Latcham Art Centre
2 Park Drive, Stouffville, Ontario
Tel. 905 640 8954
curator@latchamartcentre.ca
www.latchamartcentre.ca

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