iAga Khan MuseumDon Mills, North York
Toronto Biennial of Art at the Aga Khan Museum
Contemporary works from the Toronto Biennial of Art 2026 across the park, atrium, façade and galleries, including Dawit L. Petros. Free to visit.
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In 1884 Britain sent a military rescue mission up the Nile to Khartoum, and 379 of its boatmen came from Canada. More than 100 were Métis, Mohawk and Haudenosaunee men, set to hauling wooden whaling boats through the rapids.
Dawit L. Petros builds his Toronto Biennial commission from how that expedition was pictured: maps, banners, images of boats and photographs from Canadian, British, Egyptian and Sudanese archives. You find it in pieces, six installations across the park, the façade, the atrium, the lower-level gallery and the Bellerive Room, where works inspired by ancient Egyptian statues stand among the ceramics. In a film, Petros's own text statements meet quotes from others and keep reframing the story.
It suits anyone who likes history read through its archives. The catch is the scatter: there's no single room to walk through. It's free with no ticket, and the Museum is open until 8pm on Wednesdays. The Biennial ends 20 December; this stays until 11 April 2027.
Look for
The film Emergent Formations
Look for Petros's film on the 1884 Khartoum expedition, where his own text statements and other people's quotes interrupt the story and reshape it as it runs.
The Bellerive Room pieces
Among the display cases of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan's ceramics stand contemporary works inspired by ancient Egyptian statues.
The expedition archive
Maps, banners, images of boats and historical photographs from Canada, Britain, Egypt and Sudan, reworked to show how the expedition and its boatmen were depicted.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Evening Visits
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want one gallery to walk through: the work is spread across the park, façade, atrium and two rooms.
Also at Aga Khan Museum
On now nearby
Image credits
5
- Toronto Biennial of Art at the Aga Khan MuseumCourtesy of the Artist and Bradley Ertaskiran
- body — mind — distanceCourtesy of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
- From the Laurentian Highlands to a Higher PlaceCourtesy of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
- Static and NoiseCourtesy of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
- Aga Khan MuseumJohnOyston / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0