SANDRA BREWSTER, ROOTS, 2021-2022
PHOTOGRAPHY, INSTALLATION Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY, INSTALLATION Megan Christiansen

SANDRA BREWSTER, ROOTS, 2021-2022

In her outdoor photographic installation, Roots, Toronto-based artist Sandra Brewster explores the long history of Black presence in the urban wilderness. Developed during her tenure as Koerner Artist in Residence at Evergreen Brick Works, the photographs document the area’s plant life, greeting visitors as they explore the valley…

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GEORGE PLATT LYNES, SELECT NUDES
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

GEORGE PLATT LYNES, SELECT NUDES

George Platt Lynes was a renowned American fashion and commercial photographer who enjoyed the prime of his career during the 1930s and 1940s. Although he was very sought after by major fashion publications for his beautiful images and stunning compositions, his real passion was the male nude, which he photographed extensively in the privacy of his studio…

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IMANI DENNISON AND LATETRA METTS-OWENS, NAKED TRUTH
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

IMANI DENNISON AND LATETRA METTS-OWENS, NAKED TRUTH

In the series titled “Naked Truth,” a collaboration between fine artist Latetra Metts-Owens and Photographer, Imani Dennison, explores the truth behind people naked selves. In phase one of this project, subjects were interviewed and recorded on film, revealing things about themselves that were both uncomfortable and secret…

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SONYA CLARK, BLACK HAIR FLAG, 2010
INSTALLATION Megan Christiansen INSTALLATION Megan Christiansen

SONYA CLARK, BLACK HAIR FLAG, 2010

Traditional African American hairstyling techniques become the stars and stripes of the American flag against a backdrop of the Confederate Battle flag. The piece celebrates the roles African Americans played in the building of our nation…

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ZOJA KALINOVSKIS, UNSEEN
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

ZOJA KALINOVSKIS, UNSEEN

Inspired by classical sculpture, Unseen portrays disabled bodies with reverence - as worthy of art instead of objects of pity. The series challenges the narrative that disability is synonymous with suffering and seeks to dismantle societal prejudices.

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ALIREZA SHOJAIAN, WRESTLING SERIES, 2015
PRINTMAKING Megan Christiansen PRINTMAKING Megan Christiansen

ALIREZA SHOJAIAN, WRESTLING SERIES, 2015

Alireza SHOJAIAN is an Iranian artist, born in Tehran in 1988. He began his career in Tehran and Beirut and has been based in Paris since 2019. His work aims to challenge societal prejudices against non-heteronormative masculine identities…

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SHIKEITH, STILL WATERS RUN DEEP, 2021
INSTALLATION, FILM Megan Christiansen INSTALLATION, FILM Megan Christiansen

SHIKEITH, STILL WATERS RUN DEEP, 2021

Shikeith explores how Black queer re-making is a sacred space and practice in his two-part installation, still waters run deep / fall in your ways (2021). Using poetry, historical narratives, ambient recordings of children's rhymes, shades of blue, dance, and organic elements such as water, Shikeith maps Black men's negotiations of intimacy and routes toward freedom beyond architectural and societal constraints…

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FINA MIRALLES, RELACIONS, RELACIÓ DEL COS AMB ELEMENTS NATURALS. EL COS COBERT DE PALLA, 1975
PERFORMANCE Megan Christiansen PERFORMANCE Megan Christiansen

FINA MIRALLES, RELACIONS, RELACIÓ DEL COS AMB ELEMENTS NATURALS. EL COS COBERT DE PALLA, 1975

Her practice reconfigures the concept of the artistic, within the multiplicity of attitudes that blur what traditional historiography had encompassed under the heading of Conceptual art. The history of art has ascribed Miralles’ production to the Conceptual, Land art or even feminism, without attending to the breadth and complexity of her ideas, which challenge the limits of those labels…

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KENNEDI CARTER, RIDIN’ SUCKA FREE
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

KENNEDI CARTER, RIDIN’ SUCKA FREE

Ridin’ Sucka Free is a series that came about during conversations surrounding Black life in relation to horsemanship and agriculture. Pop culture’s interest in Black cowboys quickly rose following the release of Lil Nas X’s song Old Town Road…

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MARLON RIGGS, BLACK IS...BLACK AIN'T, 1995
FILM Megan Christiansen FILM Megan Christiansen

MARLON RIGGS, BLACK IS...BLACK AIN'T, 1995

The final film by filmmaker Marlon Riggs, BLACK IS…BLACK AIN'T, jumps into the middle of explosive debates over Black identity. White Americans have always stereotyped African Americans. But the rigid definitions of "Blackness" that African Americans impose on each other, Riggs claims, have also been devastating…

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WHITNEY HUBBS, SELECT WORKS
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

WHITNEY HUBBS, SELECT WORKS

My work is born out of looking and being engaged with both past and contemporary photography. It is also born out of unique, individual experiences. The work I’ve encountered lately has been looking at itself in the mirror, and now I’m looking at myself in the mirror per se. A personal kind of self-reflection…

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ANDRES SERRANO, PISS CHRIST, 1987
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

ANDRES SERRANO, PISS CHRIST, 1987

Andres Serrano's Piss Christ sparked outrage in the United States when it was exhibited in 1989. He immersed a crucifix he bought in an antique shop in his own urine. Up close, the crucifix takes on a monumental air, while the work’s dark, provocative mood evokes the end of an era…

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ALANA PERINO, IN A CONDITION OF NO LIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen PHOTOGRAPHY Megan Christiansen

ALANA PERINO, IN A CONDITION OF NO LIGHT

In a Condition of No Light is an autofictional investigation into lineages of familial domesticity. The performances therein circumnavigate one family in one domestic environment, yet are in dialogue with repertoires learned and rehearsed within legacies of myth, literature, theater, film, music, and image; as well as through the otherwise untraceability of embodied memory and inherited trauma…

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