Onsite Gallery presents two unique new exhibitions

Image above: Ekow Nimako, Maame Wata, 2023, 64 x 40 x 45 in, LEGO®, metal armature. Photo by Samuel Engelking. Nimako’s artwork will be featured in power at Onsite Gallery.

OCAD University’s flagship professional art gallery, Onsite Gallery, is presenting two new exhibitions that open on Jan. 24.

ᐳᓛᖃᑎᒌᑦ (Pulaaqatigiit) and power are the first exhibitions of 2024 at Onsite Gallery, alongside Hopedale, a new digital mural featured on the exterior façade of the gallery.

Onsite Gallery presents contemporary, Indigenous, and public art and design to advance knowledge creation and stimulate local and international conversations on the urgent issues of our time. Onsite Gallery is generously supported by The Delaney Family.

power
January 24 to May 18, 2024
Main Gallery

Curated by Lisa Deanne Smith, Senior Curator at Onsite Gallery, power offers artworks that challenge dominant capitalist and state capitalist worldviews. This exhibition features seven Toronto-based artists, including several OCAD U alums and faculty members.

“In our complicated times, it can be difficult to live with hope, and thus, with agency,” says Smith. “The art and design works in power reflect creative practices that invert the idea of power from being grounded in aggression and capital. These creatives care. It is hard to colonize others if our empathy hasn’t been cultured out of us.”

The opening reception takes place on Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. A curator’s talk will take place on Mar. 15 with more events February to May. 

Artists Rocky Dobey, Natalie King, Jamiyla Lowe, Khadijah Morley, Ekow Nimako, Rajni Perera and Fiona Smyth use their eloquent sculpture, drawing, painting, installation and video practices to inspire and reflect ways of being that reposition the meaning of power to be grounded in respect, cooperation and emotional intelligence.

OCAD U acknowledges power exhibition supporters: the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and Nexus. 

TAQRALIK PARTRIDGE: ᐳᓛᖃᑎᒌᑦ (PULAAQATIGIIT)
January 24 to May 18, 2024
Special Projects Gallery

Guest curated by Linda Grussani, ᐳᓛᖃᑎᒌᑦ (Pulaaqatigiit) is a solo exhibition featuring artwork by Taqralik Partridge. The opening reception takes place on Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. An artist/curator talk will take place on Apr. 17.

“Onsite Gallery is thrilled to welcome Linda Grussani as the guest curator for the two-part exhibition series, Mawadishiwewin,” says Ryan Rice, Executive Director and Curator, Indigenous Art, Onsite Gallery.

“Linda's involvement stems from her dynamic connections with artists in the Indigenous creative community, strengthened both through in-person visits and virtual bonds forged during the social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The inaugural segment, Pulaaqatigiit, is a collaborative endeavor between Linda and featured artist Taqralik Partridge. This exhibition poignantly explores the intricacies of grieving as a unique form of visitation, fostering connections with memory and sentiment. Through Pulaaqatigiit, Onsite Gallery reinforces its commitment to showcasing and advancing Indigenous contemporary art and curatorial practices.”

ᐳᓛᖃᑎᒌᑦ (Pulaaqatigiit) contemplates a space to honour and visit with loved ones that have moved beyond the physical realm. This exhibition is part of Mawadishiwewin (visits), a year-long, two-part collection of solo exhibitions that delve into the connections we form through visiting, creating and sharing.

Partridge is an artist, writer, spoken word poet, and curator from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik. Her artwork has been showcased both nationally and internationally, with exhibitions at venues such as the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Radical Stitch), Carleton University Art Gallery (The Baroness von Elsa Project), Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University (Among All These Tundras) and the Sydney Biennale in Australia.

OCAD U acknowledges ᐳᓛᖃᑎᒌᑦ (Pulaaqatigiit) exhibition supporters: the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and the Curatorial Projects: Indigenous and Culturally Diverse program, Toronto Arts Council and Nexus.

Hopedale
January to April 2024

In partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation, Onsite Gallery presents Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery, a series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists on the exterior façade of the gallery.

In her commissioned mural, Hopedale, Inuk artist Jessica Winters celebrates the land and people that build the foundation of home, the space that provides a depth of sustenance, responsibility and enduring connections.

Winters is a painter, biologist and curator raised in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, and currently based in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Hopedale is jointly commissioned by Bonavista Biennale 2023, the Inuit Art Foundation, Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project and Onsite Gallery at OCAD U. We also acknowledge the support of City of Toronto and Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts.