The past projects, programming and publications listed below engage the questions in Lines of Inquiry 4, part of The Blackwood Index on Campus lightbox series. Prompted by the corresponding graphs on the Index, this selection of work exemplifies points of interaction within the Blackwood's ongoing programs. Together, these artists, writers and researchers attune us to the outgrowths, demands, and curiosities that the inquiries provoke. 

JJJJJerome Ellis explores sound's liberatory potential—moving though, across, and against time. This two-part performance program explores embodied sound—its resonance, pronunciation, utterance, and silence. Ellis, who speaks with a block stutter—manifesting as intervals of silence—calls these pauses “clearings” that open time, challenging the temporal regulation and oppression that seek to pathologize and criminalize Black disabled individuals. The Clearing and Aster of Ceremonies reimagines dysfluency in speech time through spoken word, live music, and projected text. 

Jeneen Frei Njootli’s installations and live sound performances are sonic landscapes; frequencies and living energies that carry knowledge, information and stories related to the land, history, and culture of her Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, located in northern Yukon. For La Ferme du Buisson Art Centre, Frei Njootli presented a large photographic vinyl banner created by pressing beadwork their grandmother made into their skin. In a live sound performance midway through the exhibition, they transformed a hide scraper into a sonic tool to scrape the image away from the wall, leaving behind only its sonic residue. 

Employing strategies of refusal and redaction, American Artist’s Dignity Images examine how social media platforms condition our sense of self, identity, and community. Concerned with the vampiric nature of social media—where user content, data, and engagement generate profit—Artist’s practice proposes ways to challenge platform and surveillance capitalism. One such strategy is in Artist’s own legal renaming, which intervenes in the overwhelmingly white and male artistic canon. 

Accessibility 

The Blackwood Index on Campus is presented on four outdoor lightboxes in public spaces across the UTM campus. Some movement throughout the campus is required—ramps and curb cuts are in place. 

Download a printable map for your visit. 

Acknowledgements 

The Blackwood gratefully acknowledges the support of the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council.