Toward Return

Part of Spring 2026

Toward Return, curated by Jennifer Laiwint and Gladys Lou

Recovery is never a linear process. It carries the promise of an ideal return while confronting rupture, relapse, and uncertainty. Toward Return takes its title from the paradox of aspiring toward a state that once was. It is an experimental film and video program that explores forms of rehabilitation—medical, cultural, personal, and ecological—while acknowledging the tensions and contradictions within these processes.

The program asks: What does it mean to recover from a deep wound? Can what is damaged or lost be repaired? How do we navigate hope and grief, distance and familiarity? Is it possible to return to a “normal state” and if so, how do we define normal?

Featuring single-channel videos and a multimedia installation, the works position recovery as a shifting state between restoration, exhaustion, and reactivation. Together, they show the possibility of experimental media in facilitating recovery, whether healing from personal injury, confronting political trauma, or reclaiming lost histories. From the search for safe homes to the retrieval of family archives, the selected works trace the complexities of recuperating what has been stolen, displaced, or denied.

Toward Return invites viewers to reflect on what it means to strive toward wholeness or stability while contending with setbacks and loss. The program recombines past fragments to open new pathways toward a resilient future, where balance can be achieved.

Curated by Jennifer Laiwint and Gladys Lou

Where: United Unlimited, located near the intersection of Bloor Street West and Lansdowne Avenue
When: Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 7:00pm

Screening program: