Hello Everyone,

This week, I’m thinking more about AGO Global Contemporary (our six-storey, 55000-square-foot addition containing galleries for contemporary art). I believe that creating more space for global modern and contemporary art is key to achieving our vision:

The AGO will lead global conversations from Toronto through extraordinary collections, exhibitions and programs, and by reflecting the people who live here.

You each have a role to play in helping the AGO reach success. What does global leadership look like in your area? What are the kinds of conversations you are having that resonate around the world? How is the AGO engaging diverse communities? We should all be thinking about these questions and how we can move the museum forward, together.

It’s time for all of us to be reacquainted with one another, in person, and to experience being back onsite. Leadership Team members are onsite a minimum of 3 days a week. We are asking all Managers to be back onsite for at least 3 days a week beginning April 1^st, and then all other staff (*) within the next three months. Of course, we will continue to follow provincial health protocols and adjust to fluid circumstances.

I very much look forward to seeing more of you back at the AGO.

Take care and stay safe,

Stephan

(*Note: volunteers will also begin a staggered re-entry, according to departmental needs. A small team of information guides is retuning on site beginning March 5)

P.S. It has been a difficult week for those with family or loved ones in Ukraine. Hold tight.

In 2017, Toronto-based photographer Jorian Charlton received a collection of 35mm slides from her father for safe-keeping: his photographs from Jamaica, New York and Toronto from the late 1970s to the late ‘80s. The images reveal Charlton’s family lineage, and they inspired this exhibition. Charlton’s own portraits are paired with her father’s slides, creating a visual dialogue across generations.

Charlton explores the fluidity of the immigration story in her work, considers new ways of thinking about Jamaican-Canadian culture, and reimagines the family album through a contemporary lens. In concert with her father’s photographic narrative, these works constitute a tangible archive of what was, what is, and what will become––one, out of many.

Jorian Charlton: Out of Many is curated by Emilie Croning and presented in collaboration with Wedge Curatorial Projects and Gallery TPW. Until April 18, 2022.

The 29^th annual Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (April 28 – May 8, 2022) is fast approaching and the Hot Docs team is excited to announce that they have opened their festival volunteer applications!

Potential Hot Docs volunteers can learn more about the benefits of joining the growing Festival team at: www.hotdocs.ca/volunteer

The application deadline for new Festival volunteers is March 7, 2022.

Hello Everyone,

On this Family Day weekend, I am taking time off with my husband and daughter and visiting friends in San Francisco. I can’t emphasize how important it is that you use your allotted vacation time. We’ve all been through a lot these past two years and need time off to refresh and keep our energy levels up. So if you have vacation time available, don’t put it off too long.

Things onsite are going very well. Earlier this week we heard the news that more health restrictions will be lifted beginning on March 1st, including all capacity restrictions and the requirement to show proof of vaccination. Leadership Team is considering any additional impacts on our operations and will be in touch with more details. It is good news. It means that cases are once again on the decline and the worst of the current Omicron wave is behind us. We will continue to focus on keeping ourselves and our public safe.

I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend and time with family and friends. Thank you to those who will be onsite welcoming our public. A reminder that Fragments of Epic Memory closes on February 21st. If you haven’t seen it yet, now’s your chance! Spread the word….

Take care and stay safe,

Stephan

Artists Natalie Wood and Charles Campbell reflect on their multidisciplinary artistic practices with Professor Honor Ford Smith.

From the perspectives of Jamaican-born artist Charles Campbell and Trinidadian-born artist Natalie Wood, looking at memory and its reconstruction in the present plays an important role in the works they create. Both artists are based in Canada (Charles Campbell in Victoria, BC, and Natalie Wood in Toronto, ON). This past December, they joined Professor Honor Ford Smith for a virtual conversation about their practice and the experience of exhibiting their work in Fragments of Epic Memory. 

Natalie Wood’s Mazalee (2012) is a portrait of an individual wrapped in an abundance of crosses made from carving into a piece of cardboard. The inspiration behind the work comes from a 17th-century Maroon colony in Trinidad with the same name. According to Wood, the crosses in the portrait represent “the crossroads and someone at the crossroads or at the junction of past and present” and of gender and spirituality. For Wood, the cross holds a multitude of meanings: “You’ve got the history of this violence, but at the same time, you’ve got a syncretization of this religion, where African peoples have managed to find, and to kind of integrate, some of the freedom and liberation beliefs.” This portrait is part of the series Are You Cut Out for My Revolution? 

To learn more about both Wood and Charles Campbell’s artistic practices, the inspiration behind their exhibiting works and other projects they are working on, watch the virtual conversation here.

As Fragments of Epic Memory comes to a close on February 21, this video walkthrough (linked here) by Artist Roya DelSol was recently commissioned by the AGO to celebrate the exhibition.

In a continuing spirit of celebration, the Gallery’s Communication team gathered together a list of stories that were published through the exhibition’s nearly six-month run:

Uncovering Caribbean History (linked here)

How did the AGO acquire the Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs? Thirty  donors predominantly from Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities helped make it happen. Plus, Dr. Julie Crooks, the exhibition’s curator, told us how she chose nearly 200 images from the collection of over 3,500 prints, postcards, daguerreotypes and more to feature in Fragments. 

Freedom and Folklore (linked here)

You can’t miss the 10-foot-tall mythical figure currently standing tall in Walker Court, the latest mixed-media sculpture in British-Trinidadian artist Zak Ové’s Moko Jumbie series. A contemporary spin on Afro-Caribbean mythologies, we learned about the cultural history within this commissioned work.

Food Memory Magic (linked here)

Ackee and saltfish. Griot. Curry goat. Ponche de crème. Celebrity chef, restaurateur and recording artist Roger Mooking chatted about the interconnectedness between food, memory and Caribbean culture in this Q&A. Mooking was also featured with Dr. Julie Crooks in Foodways, a new conversation series hosted by AGO Executive Chef Renée Bellefeuille. 

For all the stories linked to the exhibition, see this larger feature in AGOinsider.

Hello Everyone,

On behalf of the AGO Board of Trustees, I’m pleased to announce that Ankesh Chandaria was appointed as the new ex-officio volunteer representative at today’s board meeting. 

Ankesh is a strategy consultant with strong legal and commercial expertise and currently co-chairs the AGO Next Committee. He understands the importance of philanthropy and engaging our community, is keen to see where the Gallery will go in the years to come and is eager to help. We believe that he will be a perfect fit for the board and an excellent advocate for the AGO. Ankesh will serve on the board for a maximum of three consecutive one-year terms, and his first term starts today. 

We had many applicants for this important role with various backgrounds, expertise, and experiences, making the selection process much more difficult. I truly appreciate you taking the time to apply for the position and your continued support of the AGO.

I look forward to working with Ankesh and the board as we continue to advance the AGO’s mission of art, audiences and learning. I also look forward to continuing to work with all of you – our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer community!

Stephan

Hello Everyone,

Last month, I told you that we are moving forward with part of our vision for AGO 2028 – a new expansion to feature global modern and contemporary art. This news has generated a lot of enthusiasm from the community and was picked up by the Globe & Mail last Friday. You can read the article, linked here. At this time, we are in the process of selecting the architect and raising funds for lead gifts. I look forward to keeping you updated on the progress of AGO Global Contemporary. Remember, our vision is to lead global conversations from Toronto through extraordinary exhibitions, collections and programs, and by reflecting the people who live here.

Thank you to everyone who has been onsite this week welcoming back our public. Things are going very well. For those of you who will be onsite this weekend, keep your eye on the news in case of route closures downtown. This morning it was announced that University/Queen’s Park Circle is now closed from Yonge St. to Queen St. We don’t anticipate that the trucker convoy will impact operations at the AGO but there might be honking and congestion closer to Queen’s Park.

Thank you and take care,

Stephan

One of our Weekend Gallery Guides, Kesang Nanglu, also works with the the Public Programming and Learning team at the Toronto Biennial of Art. They currently have an open job call for Storytellers, which we are happy to share, here.

As Kesang shares, Storytellers engage intergenerational audiences through participatory tours and discussion. Their work is focused on research, tour development, and delivering tour sessions. Storytellers offer shorter spot tours on a single artwork/artist, in addition to longer guided tours highlighting multiple works in an exhibition.

There are 4 Biennial sites where Storytellers will be stationed: The Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga, 72 Perth in the Junction, Arsenal Contemporary Art (also in the Junction), and 5 Lower Jarvis near Sugar Beach. A more detailed description can be found online, with information about hours, training, and pay.

f you have questions, please contact Kesang directly: [email protected].

Deadline to apply is Friday, February 11, 2022

Two sculptural works by Anishinaabe artist Maria Hupfield join the AGO Collection, with support from the 2021 York Wilson Endowment Award

This winter, thanks to the generosity of the Canada Council’s 2021 York Wilson Endowment Award, the AGO welcomes to its Collection two recent works by celebrated, transdisciplinary Anishinaabe artist Maria Hupfield. Through her sculptural works, performances and film installations, the artist aims to make space for Indigenous histories and bodies, repurposing everyday materials and activating the works with her own body. 

Currently on view on Level 4 of the Vivian & David Campbell Centre for Contemporary Art, alongside a work by Jana Sterbak, Hupfield’s Golden Dollar (Sacagawea) (2018) and The Silver-Tongued Taste of Progress (2018) are both sculptures and live performance props, designed to be activated by the artist’s touch. 

Born in Parry Sound, Ontario, Hupfield is a member of the Wasauksing First Nation and is based in Toronto. “After living nearly a decade in Brooklyn, New York,” says Hupfield, “it feels like progress to bring two works home to the AGO that embody economic and symbolic international power by Native Women.” Read the full article, in this week’s AGOinsider.