Exciting Exhibitions at Onsite Gallery

Brace yourself for an exhilarating journey through two amazing exhibitions at OCAD University’s Onsite Gallery. Onsite Gallery presents On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging alongside Robert Kautuk: Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery

Patricio Dávila + Immony Mèn, Passing Through the Heart, 2021 – 2023, Digital Illustration. Image courtesy of the artists.

On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging

June 14 to December 9, 2023

Join us for the On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging opening reception on Wednesday, June 14 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West

This exhibition brings together two curators, eight artists, their artworks, and audiences around the notion of “Americanity” and what it stands for today. This concept has been historically and generally used to name a shared cultural belonging to the American continent. Yet, does Americanity imply the same whether a person lives in Bacatá (Bogotá), Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang (Montréal), or Tsi Tkarón:to (Toronto), and whether they were born in Abya-Yala (America) or on another continent?

On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging aims to foster a bodily understanding of the concept that challenges and changes people’s perception of the continent. It seeks to put into dialogue its inhabitants beyond divisions such as Global North and Global South, North America and South America, or centre and periphery.

The artists in this transcontinental exhibition consider the complex colonial histories across Abya-Yala and explore the possibility of shifting existing continental identities and experiences of belonging through their engagement in ever-continuing horizontal dialogues and creative mechanisms. The conversation generated by delving into the concept of Americanity becomes more theoretically and visually significant against the current global backdrop, which is shaped by migrations, Indigenous land recovery, systemic racism, constantly changing technologies, environmental disasters, and health crises.

The exhibition is guest curated by Analays Álvarez Hernández and Colette Laliberté and features Canadian and international artists including Patricio Dávila + Immony Mèn, Estey Ducuara, Eddy Firmin, Fredy Forero, Alexandra Gelis, Caroline Monnet and Ximena Velásquez Sánchez

Please see our website for more information.

Robert Kautuk, Sea Ice Break Up, 2019, (Digital Installation). Image courtesy of artist.

Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery

April 2023 to August 2023

Sea Ice Break Up (2019), by award-winning photographer Robert Kautuk, is the third mural in Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery, presented in partnership with Inuit Art Foundation. The digital mural is on view on the exterior façade of Onsite Gallery through to the end of August 2023.

Robert Kautuk is an award-winning photographer based in Kangiqtugaapik (Clyde River), Nunavut. He uses a digital SLR camera and mobilizes drone technology to capture spectacular views of rarely seen moments, activities and landscape in the Canadian Arctic and his community.

His work foregrounds Inuit self-determination, and documents, preserves and celebrates traditional knowledge to focus on the continued importance of hunting in Inuit communities and the ongoing impacts of climate change throughout the North.

About Up Front:

In partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation (IAF), Onsite Gallery presents Up Front, a new series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists. Onsite Gallery recognizes the important contributions of the Inuit art sector and is pleased to work with the IAF to support Inuit art and artists in the public realm.

The Inuit Art Foundation is the only national organization supporting Inuit artists working in all medias and geographic areas. IAF empowers and supports Inuit artists’ self-expression and self-determination through its many platforms, including the Inuit Art Quarterly (IAQ), Canada’s largest art magazine, the IAQ Profiles, artist services, awards, scholarships and mentorship opportunities.

Up Front is made possible with the support from the City of Toronto’s Indigenous Arts and Culture Partnership Fund and the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts.

About Onsite Gallery
www.ocadu.ca/onsite

Onsite Gallery, the flagship professional gallery of OCAD University, offers powerful, thought-provoking exhibitions of art, design and new media to stimulate conversations on critical issues facing Toronto and the world.

Gallery Hours
Wednesday: 12 to 7 p.m.
Thursday to Saturday: 12 to 5 p.m.
Gallery admission and all events are free.

Onsite Gallery is an accessible venue with all gender, single user washrooms.
» Detailed accessibility information found here

About OCAD University (OCAD U)
OCAD University (www.ocadu.ca) is Canada’s university of the imagination. Founded in 1876, the university is dedicated to art, design and digital media education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines.

Contact Information:
Susan Jama
Programs & Community Coordinator, Onsite Gallery
susanjama@ocadu.ca

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