Gathering
Grounded in community participation, this installation presents over 40 pieces from the Museum’s permanent collection of over 15,000 objects from around the world.
Gathering explores themes related to migration and diaspora, the search for comfort in the domestic and familial, reclamation of ancestral traditions through contemporary artistic responses, and the relationship between textiles and the environment.
Choices of objects, responses, and retellings were gathered via open online calls for reflection, through partnerships with local organizations, and through artists’ interventions.
The Museum is pleased to showcase new acquisitions in this installation, including a 19th-century Ainu attush robe from Hokkaido, Japan, and eight beaded works by Vancouver-based, Anishnabekwe artist Bev Koski. Gathering features original digital content created in partnership with the Afghan Women’s Organization, as well as contemporary artworks and digital responses by Par Nair, Jung-Ah Kim, Katy Biele, and others.
In Winter 2024, the installation was updated to include digital responses and artwork created in partnership with the curatorial collective Mending the Museum. Mending the Museum is a collaborative duo comprised of Karina Román Justo, visual arts scholar and educator, and Camila Salcedo, interdisciplinary visual artist and educator. Artists featured in this partnership include Lan “Florence” Yee, kaya joan, Khadija Aziz, denirée isabel, Shaheer Zazai, and Paola Torres Núñez del Prado.
View the videos and digital responses for the Spring 2023 rotation of Gathering here.
View the videos and digital responses for the Winter 2024 Mending the Museum rotation of Gathering here.
Gathering is organized by Roxane Shaughnessy, Senior Curator and Manager of Collection, and Leah Sanchez, Senior Manager, Community Engagement and Learning, with curatorial advisor Devyani Saltzman.
Support for the Winter 2024 rotation is provided by Mending the Museum with project curation by Karina Román Justo and Camila Salcedo; Julia Brucculieri, Assistant Curator; Esther Knegt, Conservator; and Kes Murray, Collections Assistant.
Support for the Spring 2023 rotation is provided by Afghan Women’s Organization (AWO); Sara Naimpour, Digital Media Producer; Julia Brucculieri, Curatorial and Collections Coordinator; Esther Knegt, Conservator with installation led by Joel Robson, with Jack Wilcan, and Chip Yarwood. Exhibition design by Rob Gray of Designworks Studio.
The Collection Gallery and its inaugural installation are made possible thanks to Lead Donors Marie Aiken-Barnes and Gordon Barnes and Supporting Sponsor BMO Financial Group. The Museum received additional funding through the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Now initiative.
The Museum receives operational funding from: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Government of Ontario.
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