The Arts of the Indian Ocean conference, held online 27April 2024, and in Toronto 2–4 May, brought together more than 75 knowledge producers from diverse backgrounds and scholarly arenas to present and discuss research and work on the materialities and artistic expressions in the Indian Ocean world, across geographies—from eastern and southern Africa, through the Gulf and Red Sea to South and Southeast Asia and the south China Sea—as well as across temporalities —from antiquity up until the present-day. Through the examination of the creation, production, and circulation of material culture in a wide range of forms including the visual arts, portable objects, manuscripts and maps, ships and navigational instruments, landscape, architecture, and the built environment, textiles and dress, photography and film, as well as the digital and plastic arts, the conference provided a platform for scholars and artists to exchange current research, map the field of Indian Ocean arts, and open up new questions on Indian Ocean pasts, presents, and futures.
The conference was convened by Ruba Kana’an (University of Toronto, Mississauga), Zulfikar Hirji (York University) and Sarah Fee (Royal Ontario Museum) with support from Sanniah Jabeen (University of Toronto). Collaborators included Deepali Dewan (Royal Ontario Museum) Kajri Jain (University of Toronto), Pedro Machado (Indiana University), Chantal Radimilahy (University of Antananarivo), Fahmida Suleman (Royal Ontario Museum), Nancy Um (Getty Research Institute), and Richard Vokes (University of Western Australia). The conference was generously supported by a range of departments and research institutes at the University of Toronto Mississauga, University of Toronto Scarborough, University of Toronto, York University including YCAR, the Aga Khan Museum, the Art Gallery of York University, and the Royal Ontario Museum.
The conference included 18 panels and featured three keynote speakers including Stephen A. Murphy (Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art at SOAS, University of London), Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (Kenya-based writer, author of Dust (2014) and the Dragonfly Sea (2019), and winner of 2003 Caine Prize for Writing), and Iftikhar Dadi (John H. Burris Professor and Chair of Cornell University’s Department of History of Art).
The complete conference program can be downloaded here: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/dvs/media/2709/download?inline.
![Audrey Albert, Visual Artist (Manchester, UK) presents a paper on “From Matter Out of Place to Chagossians of Manchester: Reclaiming Chagossian memory and history” on the panel, Thinking Loss from a Small Place.](https://www.yorku.ca/research/ycar/wp-content/uploads/sites/783/2024/08/arts-indian-ocean-2024-01-scaled.jpeg)
![Panel on Unruly Edges of Indian Ocean Arts: Objects and Ideas in Circulation and Transformation. Panelists: Hideaki Suzuki (Associate Professor, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan), Kyoko Matsukawa (Professor, Faculty of Letters, Konan University, Japan), Aki Toyoyama (Associate Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kindai University, Japan), Taku Iida (Professor, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan), Ananya Jahanara Kabir (Professor, English Literature, King’s College, UK), and Naiza Khan, Visual Artist and Researcher (UK/Pakistan).](https://www.yorku.ca/research/ycar/wp-content/uploads/sites/783/2024/08/arts-indian-ocean-2024-02-scaled.jpg)
![Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor provides a performative reading from her novel The Dragonfly Sea (2019) with artist, composer, musical director, and author, Musa kaMkhethwa Mhlongo as part of her keynote address, “Marashi: Scents and Story senses in the Dragonfly Sea”.](https://www.yorku.ca/research/ycar/wp-content/uploads/sites/783/2024/08/arts-indian-ocean-2024-03.jpeg)
![Zulfikar Hirji (Associate Professor, York University), leads a community engagement panel discussion on Material Memories: Stories of Indian Ocean Objects, with Su Yen Chong (PhD Candidate, Department of Art History, University of Toronto), multi-disciplinary artist Bishara Elmi, artist and fashion designer Jayshree Khimasia, and Kamrudin Abdulrasul Rashid (Retired Senior Staff Member, Aga Khan Ismaili Council for Ontario).](https://www.yorku.ca/research/ycar/wp-content/uploads/sites/783/2024/08/arts-indian-ocean-2024-04.jpeg)