Fall 2025 Exhibitions at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery
The RMG is pleased to present six new exhibitions this fall
Ekow Nimako, Wawa Aba, The Sunrise Dancer (circa 1358), 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Ekow Nimako – Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships
September 20, 2025 – February 15, 2026
Curated by Alyssa Fearon
Organized and circulated by Dunlop Art Gallery
Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2,000 Ships continues artist Ekow Nimako’s afrofuturistic reimagining of ancient African kingdoms. Using LEGO bricks as his medium, Nimako explores the mysterious fourteenth century sea voyage of Mansa Abu Bakr II, predecessor of Mansa Musa, ruler of the ancient Mali Empire. According to legends, Abu Bakr II was an intrepid explorer, who abdicated his throne and took 2,000 ships on an expedition into the Atlantic, but was never to return or heard from again. Some accounts suggest the massive fleet reached as far as the Americas, but where they went beyond this is still unknown. Combining architecture, historical accounts, and fantastical possibilities, Nimako transcends the geometric form of LEGO to recreate the epic voyage. And in doing so, Nimako presents an uninterrupted and unco-opted narrative of Black civilizations and imagines liberated futures.
Related Programming:
Opening Reception + Artist-led Tour
September 20, 2025, 1 – 4pm
Follow the link to reserve a seat on the shuttle bus coming from Toronto!
Par Nair, the view from her bedroom window, 2025, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.
Par Nair: the place from my grandma’s dreams
October 4 – November 30, 2025
Curated by Hannah Keating
During her residency, Par Nair has experimented with new styles and techniques to create a series of textile works and landscape paintings inspired by her family’s home in Kerela, India. Lush with greenery and radiating warmth, Nair’s landscape paintings represent a new direction for the artist whose works have typically featured figures indoors. Alongside the paintings, Nair also presents embroidery projects that are meditative and poetic, drawing on themes of migration, inheritance, and family history.
Related Programming:
Exhibition Opening + Artist-led Tour
October 4, 2025, 1 – 3pm
Installation of Olivia Whetung: inawendiwok at The Art Gallery of Mississauga, 2024.
Olivia Whetung: inawendiwok
November 15, 2025 – April 12, 2026
Curated by Mona Filip
Organized by The Art Gallery of Mississauga
A member of Curve Lake First Nation and citizen of the Nishnaabeg Nation, artist Olivia Whetung draws upon her experience working on and with the land to create artworks that speak of the interdependence and relationality within our ecosystem. Researching land-based and food de-commodifying movements, Anishinaabe knowledge, and the ecology of her home territory, Whetung presents a series of sculptural installations, digital prints, and three-dimensional beadworks that articulate the vital connectivity between woodland, wetland, and garden environments.
Related Programming:
Opening Reception
November 15, 2025, 1 – 4pm
Learn to Bead: Peyote Stitch Workshop with Olivia Whetung
November 22 and December 6, 2025, 1 – 4pm
Registration opening soon on the website!
Scott Rogers: Mutualism (Fixed Assets)
November 15, 2025 – April 12, 2026
Curated by Leila Timmins
Mutualism (Fixed Assets) is a new temporary public artwork for the backyard at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. This ambitious new installation builds on Rogers’ interest in human- built infrastructures for the care and support of non-human beings. Taking the form of a site-responsive bird feeding station, the work is assembled from broken automobile parts scavenged from roads and highways. This reuse of discarded materials connects with the industrial history of Oshawa, while proposing possibilities of ecological renewal out of the wreckage.
Related Programming:
Opening Reception
November 15, 2025, 1 – 4pm
Hortense Gordon: Towards the New
September 6, 2025 – March 1, 2026
Curated by Sonya Jones
Hortense Gordon (1886–1961) was an important figure in Canadian modern art. Towards the New traces Gordon’s artistic evolution—from her early traditional influences to her embrace of abstraction later in life. Throughout her career, she remained committed to staying current in both her painting and teaching. Despite resistance from her husband and the art establishment, she taught design and abstract principles for decades before adopting them in her own practice. Renowned American abstract expressionist teacher, Hans Hofmann, wrote that Gordon was “…always directed towards the future and progress in life and art.”
As a founding—and the oldest—member of Painters Eleven, Gordon valued the group’s shared energy and experimentation with abstraction. This exhibition highlights her stylistic transformations and tireless pursuit of the new, celebrating her lasting impact on Canadian art.
Related Programming:
Art Historical Lecture: Hortense Gordon: Life + Art
November 27, 2025, 7 – 8pm
Homage
September 6, 2025 – August 23, 2026
Curated by Sonya Jones
Paying homage is an artistic gesture rooted in respect—an acknowledgment of influence, inspiration, and memory. Artists often respond to what has come before: people who shaped them, places that left a mark, and ideas that continue to resonate. By honouring these connections, artists use tribute not just to look back, but to build something new. This exhibition, drawn from The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s Permanent Collection, explores the ways artists pay homage to those who shaped their lives, significant events, or shared experiences. Together, these artworks remind us of the enduring power of art to honour, remember, and connect.
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is an accessible venue. To learn more or request accommodations, please visit the website.
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery
72 Queen Street
Civic Centre
Oshawa, ON L1H 3Z3
www.rmg.on.ca
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