Choral Registers: An Experimental Reading Group on Rhythm and Ritual.

Sarah Edo will host a reading group responding to Erika DeFreitas' outdoor installation of lightboxes at the Blackwood Gallery. The series features images of DeFreitas's hands holding polaroids of her attempts to document apparitions of the Virgin Mary in sunny skies. Thinking alongside DeFreitas' interests in repetition, gesture, and the haptic, Edo will propose readings and lead a multi-sensory discussion that engages notions of the sacred in Black diaspora, ritual, cosmology and repair. Readings will include selections from the work of M. Jacqui Alexander and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. This program has been developed by Maandeeq Mohamed.

A free shuttle bus from University of Toronto St. George Campus will depart at 1:35 pm, from Classic Avenue (at Wetmore Hall), and arrive at UTM at approximately 2:40 pm. After the event, a free shuttle bus will depart UTM in front of Instructional Centre Layby at 5:15 pm, and drop participants off at the St. George Campus on Classic Avenue (at Wetmore Hall). For more information on the shuttle bus service please click here.

This event will begin at The Blackwood Gallery and move outdoors to various locations on UTM campus. This event will be held rain or shine, with covered indoor facilities at the Blackwood Gallery available in case of inclement weather. Accessible public washrooms and seating are available. Snacks and refreshments will be provided at the gallery. Accessibility: Some movement throughout the campus is required—ramps and curb cuts are in place.

CONTRIBUTORS

Sarah Edo is an emerging curator born and based in Toronto. Her work thinks through Black queer diaspora, desire and materiality. Her creative pursuits are guided and grounded by her experiences in community work, collective study, and intentional relation-building.

Maandeeq Mohamed is a writer engaging Black Studies and related cultural production. Her writing is featured in Real Life, C Magazine, and Canadian Art. Currently, Maandeeq is the Reviews Editor at C Magazine, as well as a PhD student in English and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, where she is a SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Doctoral Fellow.

Presented by Blackwood Gallery

Movement Three: The Miraculous is presented by the Blackwood Gallery as part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

Host or Publisher Blackwood Gallery