Art Windsor-Essex Summer 2022 Exhibition Highlights

Jude Abu Zaineh
لو يذكر الزيتون غارسهُ، لصار الزيت دمعاً
If the Olive Trees knew the hands that planted them…Their Oil would become Tears
2022, Vinyl collage (after Mahmoud Darwish)

In early 2022, Art Windsor-Essex welcomed visitors back inside the gallery and outside in Windsor-Essex to experience 11 exhibitions and installations.

New Exhibitions On View at AWE

Various dates until February 5, 2023

Jude Abu Zaineh: In the Presence of Absence. في حضرة الغياب. Unfolding as a tender and poignant homage that centres Palestinian-Canadian artist Jude Abu Zaineh’s relationship with Palestine- a homeland that she has only encountered through oral histories, archival images, literature and cultural traditions. The exhibition’s title is borrowed from the late Palestinian author Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry book that weaves his autobiography with the shared experiences of exile endured by Palestinians. Layering both personal and collective accounts of migration and adaptation, Abu Zaineh created neon, collage and print works that draw photographs from library archives and family albums. For the artist, these works reimagine the home as a dynamic site that is constantly evolving through the experiences of migration, familial anecdotes, and memories. Across all the works, images of plants emerge as a metaphor for vitality-symbolizing the ability of displaced individuals to flourish under challenging conditions. The exhibition is conceived as a home that shares narratives of belonging, selfhood and culture that are transformed when one is at the crossroads of being a diasporic individual.

This exhibition forms part of Below the 6, a series of exhibitions that focuses on artists based in Southwestern Ontario whose practices are socially and politically minded. Below the 6 is guest curated by Noor Alé and is generously supported by TD Bank Group.

Looking Back, Looking Forward is an exhibition of artworks from the Art Windsor-Essex Collection. These artworks were made by artists who are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and/or any other sexual and gender minority), historically and living. The exhibition has a regional focus, featuring artists who have lived in Ontario (particularly the Southern region, ranging from Toronto to Windsor).

Marcel Dzama: Illustration and Other Worlds is an exhibition featuring the work of Marcel Dzama, and in response, murals by Talysha Bujold-Abu. Marcel Dzama’s work is rooted in illustrative storytelling and building narrative from a combination of multiple parts: the didactic innocence of well-known folk characters,the quintessential ‘who stole my porridge?’, the ‘bump-in-the-night’ scaries of ghosts and grims, tiny lions (sans witches or wardrobes), and the rootin-tootin cowboy.

Itee Pootoogook: Hymns to the Silence. As one of the key members of the third generation Inuit artists from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Pootoogook contributed to the transformation and reshaping of the creative traditions that were successfully pioneered in the second half of the 20th century by members of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, at Kinngait Studios. Curated by Dr. Nancy Campbell, this exhibition was organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Grey Matter: Your Brain on Art is an exhibition of a selection of recently acquired artworks from Art Windsor-Essex’s Collection. The artworks share the same monochromatic colour scheme from artists such as Manasie Akpaliapik, Marcel Barbeau, Lawren S. Harris, Colleen Heslin, John Heward, Robert Houle, Micah Lexier, Shelley Niro, Margaret Priest, Jane Ash Poitras, Kakulu Saggiaktuk, Henry Saxe, Quinn Smallboy, Kara Springer, Max Streicher and more. Through this exhibition, we hope to understand our “Brain on Art” and the internal processes that occur within our minds.

Michele Goulette: DOWNRIVER. Curated by Nadja Pelkey, this solo retrospective of Windsor artist Michele Goulette brings together some of her earlier works in the collection of the AGW with video works made between 2008 – 2021.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. This exhibition is part of AWE’s celebrations to honour the 70-year reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As part of the celebration, you’re invited to Feeling Regal: High Tea for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Friday, July 1 from 12 pm – 4 pm. Join us for a family-friendly afternoon with local drag queen Disco Jesus! In honour of this celebration admission to AWE is free all day.

In the Community

Against the Current is an outdoor web-based experience accessible through participants’ portable devices. The interactive activities are free to enjoy. To ensure the experience is widely available, Downtown Windsor offers free Wi-Fi. Through the experience, participants are encouraged to use an interactive online map to move across Downtown Windsor to discover eight locations that feature artwork reproductions from the art gallery’s collection. The artists who are featured altered the course of art history by pushing against the expectations of their time. Mini-games at each stop reveal the stories of these artists – their passion, imagination, and acts of rebellion. Participants will collect unique milestones tied to each artist’s legacy and be invited to visit AWE for one last surprise. Against the Current will be accessible through the end of 2022.

Art Alley. Mounted to the façade of Pelissier Street Parking Garage and visible from Ouellette Avenue, is a reproduction of an artwork by Windsor-artist Michele Goulette. The approximately 16 square foot image is of Goulette’s Zalev (Tracks), 1982, collotype on archival paper; artist’s proof, 9 x 12 cm which Goulette donated to the gallery in 2019.

AWE Offsite: Dry Good Gallery. Emerging Artist Residency Maria Mediratta. The installation work ‘grid_expansion’ is a sculptural mixed media evolvement of artist Maria Mediratta’s exploration into the tensions between our virtual and tangible worlds. The window is located at 1012 Drouillard Road, the Morris Dry Goods Building in Ford City.

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