Dare to Wear Love is the first exhibition devoted to the celebrated work of top Canadian fashion designers who have created original pieces to raise awareness and funds for grassroots organizations who are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cultural and artistic expressions are continually evolving, transforming in response to new social circumstances and as emerging materials spur the reinvention of traditional practices. In Africa, dance has been an important form of social communication and celebration, connecting past and present. Traditionally African dancers have drawn on the local environment and materials for their attire, tying strings of shells, stones or plants around their legs, arms or neck to add sounds as they moved.
Fictions and Legends highlights the imaginative worlds embodied in the work of Heather Goodchild and Jérôme Havre, two artists who use visual storytelling to invent biographical and mythical histories that hint at the presence of secret societies and systems of belief, mystical practices and alternative cultural codes.
Universal materials of communication, ornamentation and ritual, glass beads offer extraordinary insight into worlds and world views – microcosms of meaning and symbolism. Cherished around the world, the shared passion for these luminous, kaleidoscopic treasures has sparked global trade, drawing ships across oceans.