Deanna Bowen, Alexandria, Virginia. Slave Pen. Exterior View, 1861 and 1869, 2020. Inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist and MKG127, Toronto.

The Image Centre presents 2021 Scotiabank Photography Award winner Deanna Bowen

Interdisciplinary artist examines race, migration, historical writing and authorship in Black Drones in the Hive

The Image Centre (formerly Ryerson Image Centre) at Toronto Metropolitan University welcomes visitors back this fall for a series of captivating exhibitions and public programming. On view through December 3 is the must-see exhibition Scotiabank Photography Award: Deanna Bowen. Black Drones in the Hive.

Guest curated by Crystal Mowry and originally produced by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Black Drones in the Hive unfolds in a series of visual chapters to reveal the strategic erasures which have enabled Canadian canons (such as the Group of Seven) to exist without question or complication. Through this heavily researched aggregate of archival imagery, text, and artefact, Montreal-based artist Deanna Bowen weaves together narrative threads of migration, power networks, and hierarchies of remembrance.

Also on view this fall as part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival are four new exhibitions, including CANADA NOW: New Photography Acquisitions, Andréanne Michon: états d’esprit – states of mind, The Optics of Science: Early Western Stereographs from the Dr. Martin J. Bass and Gail Silverman Bass Collection, and Caeden Wigston: Dissension.

The Image Centre also proudly commemorates its tenth anniversary this fall, celebrating a decade of public exhibitions, a diverse and growing collection of over 375,000 objects and a robust research department with five original publications on photo history in our scholarly imprint with MIT Press. We are excited to welcome visitors into our gallery throughout this anniversary year and continue to provide access to free public art and programs. Our bookshop is also open, giving visitors access to our past publications, exhibition catalogues and the most recent Scotiabank Photography Award book, Deanna Bowen, published by renowned art book publisher, Steidl, to be available later this fall.

Our collective health and safety is the foremost priority and The Image Centre will continue to monitor and adhere to all public health regulations as determined by Toronto Metropolitan University and the provincial government.

Admission is always free.

Kablusiak (Canadian, b. 1993), NorthMart, from the series akunnirun kuupak, 2019, inkjet print. Purchase, Canada Now Photography Acquisition Initiative, with funds from Edward Burtynsky and Nicholas Metivier, 2021

Don’t miss our fall season of shows

Scotiabank Photography Award: Deanna Bowen. Black Drones in the Hive
September 14–December 3, 2022

This exhibition celebrates the interventionist and visual practice of Montreal-based artist Deanna Bowen, winner of the 2021 Scotiabank Photography Award. Drawing materials from the KWAG’s permanent collection as well as local and international archives, Bowen clusters historic documents, illustrations and publications in a series of thematic constellations, weaving together narrative threads of migration, racist dispossession, entrenched power networks, and hierarchies of remembrance.

CANADA NOW: New Photography Acquisitions
September 14–December 3, 2022

This exhibition features the work of ten Canadian artists who employ photographic media to engage with issues of identity and belonging. Representing individuals, their communities, and their diverse life experiences, these images highlight various aspects of visibility and resilience. The works were purchased through the Canada Now Photography Acquisition Initiative, funded by photographer Edward Burtynsky and Nicholas Metivier Gallery in support of emerging or mid-career photographic artists from across the country.

Andréanne Michon: états d’esprit – states of mind
September 14–December 3, 2022

Commissioned for The Image Centre’s Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall, Andréanne Michon’s états d’esprit – states of mind is a mixed media installation comprised of a multi-channel video, sculpted gelatin silver prints, photographs, sound, and poetry. Addressing the dramatic forces of the Anthropocene and its irremediable consequences—erosion, flooding, storms, and extreme heat—Michon immerses visitors in an environment where the sustainability of glacial, aquatic, and coastal ecosystems is at risk.

The Optics of Science: Early Western Stereographs from The Dr. Martin J. Bass and Gail Silverman Bass Collection
September 14–October 22, 2022

The Optics of Science presents late 19th and early 20th century three-dimensional stereographic cards and supplementary material from the Bass Collection, part of The Image Centre’s holdings. Comprising medical, clinical, anthropological, astronomical, and spirit photographs, the selection highlights the technical and historical intricacies associated with looking at images often entangled with colonial legacies.

Caeden Wigston: Dissension
November 2 –December 3, 2022

In his exhibition Dissension, Toronto-based photographer and visual artist Caeden Wigston explores the manifestations of growing up Queer in the Christian church. Wigston references notes and highlighted passages from the pages of his mother’s bible, while asking the individuals he photographs to answer questions about the duality of spirituality and Queerness. Capturing his subjects in spaces they call their own, the artist seeks to understand if the relationship between Queerness and Christianity can exist simultaneously or if they are doomed to separation.

The Image Centre
33 Gould Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ADMISSION IS FREE

www.theimagecentre.ca
416-979-5164
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Media Contact
Feven Tesfamariam, The Image Centre, ftesfamariam@ryerson.ca / T+416 560 5306