Daybreak

Skawennati, A Day in The Life of The Three Sisters, 2023. Machinima, 6 min 30 secs.

Daybreak

Works by Taras Lachowsky, Philip Leonard Ocampo, Tazeen Qayyum, saysah, Skawennati, Connor Taylor

Curated by Erin Szikora

January 20 – March 28, 2026
Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough

As the earth turns on its axis, intervals between light and dark unfold according to our shifting proximity to the sun. In this perpetual motion, the sun rises and sets each day, marking an endless choreography of changing seasons, and cadences that influence how we live. Both fact and metaphor, this celestial rhythm mirrors the cycles of transformation that guide our own existence—our rituals, choices, dreams, and fears. Meditating on this ever-returning passage between dawn and dusk, and grounded in the day to day actions that shape our lives, the artists in Daybreak invite viewers to reflect on how we spend, understand, and mark time.

Daybreak presents artmaking as both a tool and a mirror that help us understand the events and choices that shape our lives. The exhibition brings together an intergenerational and culturally diverse group of artists whose works draw from lived experience, and collective and ancestral knowledge. Taras Lachowsky, Philip Leonard Ocampo, Tazeen Qayyum, saysah, Skawennati, and Connor Taylor invite us to consider how time slows, slips, repeats, and gathers meaning. Through poetry, performance, collage, video, installation, and painting, they collaborate with community, with strangers, and with the earth itself, sharing insights on how to move through a world that is often demanding and relentless, yet still full of beauty, spontaneity, and connection. By pausing to notice both the wonders and anxieties of everyday life, their works reveal how artmaking can help us navigate these shifting rhythms and find clarity within our brief moment in a vast and transitory planetary cycle.

Daybreak has been developed alongside Nightfall, an exhibition curated by Hannah Keating opening at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in November 2026. Together, the exhibitions explore the interconnectedness of human rhythms and ancient cycles of time—whether daily, seasonal, generational, or geological—and draw attention to the intuitive, creative, and necessary relationship between rest and action.

Philip Leonard Ocampo, Key Dawn, 2025. House paint, screws, graphite, and acryla gouache on images adhered to laser cut wood, dimensions variable. Photo courtesy of LF Documentation.

Public Programs

All programming is free. Please see the DMG website for visitor information and contact dmg.utsc@utoronto.ca with any accommodation needs.

Public Reception
Saturday, January 24, 2 – 4pm
Doris McCarthy Gallery, U of T Scarborough
Free shuttle bus departs from Hearth (1267A St. Clair Ave. W. Unit #6) at 1:15pm, returning after the reception; contact dmg.utsc@utoronto.ca to reserve a seat.

Join us to celebrate the opening of Daybreak at this drop-in public reception. Curator Erin Szikora will deliver remarks at 3pm, followed by a poetry reading by Connor Taylor. Throughout the program, guests are invited to make clay offerings to be added to saysah’s installation on the edge of routine; or of sand, silt and clay. Light refreshments and a cash bar will be offered, all welcome.

Visiting Artist Lecture: Philip Leonard Ocampo
Tuesday, February 3, 1 – 2pm
AA204, Arts & Administration Building, U of T Scarborough
Registration required

As part of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series, co-presented by the Studio program, Department of Arts, Culture & Media, U of T Scarborough, Philip Leonard Ocampo will present on his artistic practice, with a focus on the way his work engages with the theme of Futures Otherwise: Memory, Myth and the Politics of Tomorrow.

Artist Talk & Collage Workshop with Taras Lachowsky
Saturday, February 28, 1 – 4pm
BV340, Bladen Wing, U of T Scarborough
Registration required

Taras Lachowsky will share his unique collage process inspired by the Ukrainian craft practices of Vytynanka (paper cutting), Vishyvanky (embroidery), and Pysanky (Easter egg painting) through an artist talk and hands-on workshop. Participants will experiment with collage and papercutting while reflecting on the symbol of the tree—a powerful metaphor for connection, growth, and setting down roots in a new place. All materials provided.

From Day to Night: Curatorial Talk by Erin Szikora and Hannah Keating
Wednesday, March 4, 2 – 3:30pm
Doris McCarthy Gallery, U of T Scarborough
Registration required

Daybreak curator Erin Szikora will be joined by Hannah Keating, curator of the companion exhibition Nightfall, opening at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in November 2026. Together, they will discuss their inspiration, process, and unique collaboration, and unpack the exhibition themes and relationship.

River Seasons: Walk and Workshop with saysah
Saturday, March 28, 1 – 3:30pm
Doris McCarthy Gallery & Ma Moosh Ka Win Trail, U of T Scarborough
Registration required

In this afternoon of connection, reflection, and community that marks the last day of the exhibition, saysah leads a walk through Highland Creek to reflect on the impact of the winter months on the land and water, followed by a discussion in the gallery. Participants will be invited to bring clay offerings from saysah’s installation in the gallery, created with clay from Lake Ontario, and return them with care to the waterways from which they were harvested.

Doris McCarthy Gallery
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4
416.287.7007
dmg.utsc@utoronto.ca
dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca

Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11am to 4pm; Wednesday, 11am to 7pm; Saturday, 11 to 5pm. Admission is free. Open to the public. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.

Instagram | Facebook

Image Descriptions:
1. A digitally rendered image of beans, corn, and squash growing together in a green field under a blue sky.
2. An image of a ring of keys splayed out, each key decorated with an image of the sky at different times of day.