Slavery North is proud to co-present an artist talk by Camille Turner with UMass Amherst University Museum of Contemporary Art and the Department of Art.
Date: April 16, 2026
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: Old Chapel, UMass Amherst, 144 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01002
Free and open to the public; registration is required.
About the Artist Talk: An artist and scholar working at the intersection of historical research and Afrofuturism, Camille Turner brings a future-oriented lens to the study of colonial archives through what she calls an “Afronautic” methodology, approaching the past from the standpoint of a liberated future.
During her time at UMass this past fall, Turner researched and created new work as part of a residency at the museum and fellowship with Slavery North, which investigates overlooked histories of Transatlantic Slavery in Canada and the northern United States. Turner’s practice invites audiences to engage deeply with these histories.
“I see my role almost as a public historian,” Turner says. “My job is to make this history palpable, to make it alive, to make it relatable, and to invite people to sit with it, to process it, to reckon with it, and to imagine different futures.”
The talk will highlight her museum exhibition, Land of the Free, featuring Turner’s cinematic meditations on the lives of enslaved people transported across the Atlantic. At its center is her new film 80 Died of Flux and Flu (2025), alongside earlier works Nave (2022) and Fly (2024), which honor enslaved ancestors. In addition, Turner presents a New England–specific installation of her ongoing Afronautic Research Lab project in the North Gallery.
Bio: Camille Turner is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design University and recently completed a PhD at York University, along with a provost’s postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto. She is the recipient of the 2022 Artist Prize from the Toronto Biennial of Art, and her work is held in major collections including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
