Future Nostalgia: A Time Capsule Collaboration

Inspired by the themes explored in the Doris McCarthy Gallery exhibition NOSTALGIA INTERRUPTED, this collaborative program provides space for BIPOC identifying folks to come together and reflect on individual and collective memories and histories. Led by artist and educator, Leila Fatemi, participants will collaborate on building a time capsule that includes memorabilia, letters, photos, and other objects of significance. The time capsule will be acquired by the DMG archive to serve as a record of the lived experiences of participants and community members for future reminiscence -- past, present and for the future.

Registration for this program is required. ASL interpretation available, please request upon registration.

The program will include a tour of the exhibition where participants examine the artists’ individual approaches to interrupting nostalgia. Collectively, we will think critically about how the time capsule could reflect a similar intervention and testament to the fact that BIPOC communities have been here, continue to exist, and will live on far into the future. The conversation will continue as the group gathers to share, learn, and honour the objects they will each contribute to the box. The program will culminate in a writing exercise to be included alongside individual offerings to further highlight the ways in which BIPOC contributions to culture have always existed.

Participants are asked to please bring in 1-2 objects; photos, newspaper clippings, articles, books, etc. that have impacted their identity in a positive way. Feel free to take whatever approach best suits in selecting these items, it can be intimately personal or related to a larger historical or cultural event. Registrants will receive several prompts prior to the program to aid in narrowing down and thoughtfully selecting their contributions.

About the facilitator

Leila Fatemi is an emerging artist, curator and community arts worker based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Living between cultures, her work and curatorial endeavours stem from her daily experiences as a visible minority and her perspective as a practicing Muslim woman artist. Fatemi aims to provide platforms and contribute alternative narratives to conversations of ethnic representation with a focus on the experience of Muslim women & women, as well as to create a better understanding and appreciation for Islamic culture and traditions.

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