08/18/2026
Throughout the summer, the Blackwood hosted a series of programs that explored themes rooted in the current lightbox exhibition ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ by Hicham Benohoud. This four-part series led by guest contributors foregrounded culture-rooted practices and plural forms of knowledge-making, engaging choreography, accessibility, illustration, storytelling, dance, and photography as tools for shared learning and artmaking.
Beginning on Wednesday, June 10th, we were joined by ๐๐๐ฐ๐ ๐๐น-๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ and the ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฟ๐๐ (.ca) who reflected on dabke as a form of Palestinian world-making. Through their talk and performance, the everlasting ties between bodies, community, land, and history are shown to prevail under ongoing conditions of violence and deracination.
On Saturday, July 11th, ๐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ป () led a workshop that explored a writing and embodied witnessing as access-creation. Highlighting the limitless nature of observation and interpretation, the group used photographs from ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ as the basis for creating poems, scores, and gestures that demonstrate how meaning can emerge through collective acts of looking.
On Wednesday, July 22nd, ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐๐น ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ () led a hands-on visual ethnography workshop that encouraged participants to lead with imagination. As an inherently interpretive methodology, Helouโs ethnographic practice invited participants to combine field work and storytelling to understand and engage with the environments that surround us.
For our final program on Saturday, August 8th, ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐น๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ () joined us at VAM () in the Riverwood Conservatory for a photography workshop geared towards kids aged 8-12 years old. Inspired by the playfulness of Benohoudโs images, participants engaged with the park landscape to produce photographs of their own that implore similar methods of experimentation and imaginative scene building.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ public program series was proudly sponsored by U of T affinity partners, Manulife and TD Insurance. Discover the benefits of affinity products! https://buff.ly/35Wmnyg
๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐:
1+4. ๐๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ with Maya El Helou, July 22, 2026. Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn.
2. ๐๐ต๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ต with Lucy El-Sherif and Zaytouna Academy of Cultural Arts, June 10, 2026. Photo: The Blackwood.
3. ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ with Jose Miguel Esteban, July 11, 2026. Photo: Henry Chan.
5. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ with Leila Fatemi, August 8, 2026. Photo courtesy The Blackwood.
