Posts Tagged ‘Meryl McMaster’

‘Now You See Me’

Posted: May 14, 2022 in galleries
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an exhibit at Doris McCarthy Gallery, U of T Scarborough.

“Bringing together artists who consider the power dynamics of image-making in their distinct practices, Now You See Me includes Black, Indigenous, and artists of colour, who variously identify as women, femme, and non-binary. They use photography to explore issues related to gender and cultural identity, asserting themselves as directors of their own images to pose questions about the complex cultural and gender-related politics that underlie self-representation.”

The above quote comes from the Doris McCarthy Gallery website where you can find more information about the exhibit.

below: “Skin Deep” by Chun Hua Catherine Dong shows self-portraits ‘masked’ in Chinese silk fabrics, a gesture that implies submission.

two pictures on a gallery wall, embroidered masks that blend in with their background, one in blues and the other in reds, golds, and orange, by Chun Hua Catherine Dong

elaborately embroidered mask, reds and greens and black on orange background

below: A video by Vivek Shraya titled “Legends of the Trans” is a photoessay based on “Legends of the Fall”, a 1994 movie starring Brad Pitt.  Throughout the essay, the main character, Tristan, wears a bindi (coloured dot) on his/her forehead.

2 images from a video, during a fade in and fade out, person sitting in long grass with mountains in the background

below: Meryl McMaster juxtaposes a self-portrait with a hand written copy of a poem called ‘Onondaga Madonna’ written by Duncan Campbell Scott in 1898. Scott was the deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932.  He played a predominant role in the establishment of residential schools; under his direction the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their homes to attend residential schools was made compulsory,

Meryl McMaster portrait, in the woods in winter, alongside a hand written poem called Onondaga Madonna

below: Danya Danger presents three photos of women in embellished black leather fetish masks as she explores the relationships between sexuality, gender, and power.

photo of upper torso and head of a woman with tattoos, blackish lipstick and heavy eye makeup, wearing a black bdsm type mask covering most of her head and face. beaded black leather fetish mask

below: Gaëlle Elma has a couple of large photos in this group exhibit. Her work deals with perceptions of sexuality, human bodies, and blackness.

two black people with eyes closed in inimate embrace

below: Leila Fatemi has centered her exhibit around vintage postcards of Muslim women.  Here they are printed such that the image depends on the angle from which you view the picture.

4 pictures based on old postcards of Muslim women, project by Leila Fatemi

4 pictures based on old postcards of Muslim women

4 pictures based on old postcards of Muslim women

“Generated from different perspectives and experiences, these works share a reckoning with the historical and contemporary uses of the camera as a tool to perpetuate degradative narratives.”

more than a pile of skulls

Posted: October 14, 2021 in locations, public art
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There are two public art exhibits now on display at Harbourfront’s Ontario Square.  The first is “Built on Genocide” by by Jay Soule aka CHIPPEWAR which is part of this year’s Luminato Festival ….  “In the mid-19th century, an estimated 30 to 60 million buffalo roamed the prairies, by the late 1880s, fewer than 300 remained. As the buffalo were slaughtered and the prairie ecosystem decimated, Indigenous peoples were robbed of their foods, lands, and cultures. The buffalo genocide became a genocide of the people” (quote source: Luminato website)

below: The centerpiece is a pile of Buffalo skulls.

a large pile of buffalo skulls, art installation, with glass and steel condos rising behind,

below: Surrounding the skulls are posters that highlight and criticize government policies towards First Nations including (Prime Minister) Sir John A. Macdonald and his “Magic Eraser”, i.e. the Indian Act of 1876.

people looking at large posters, part of art installation, built on genocide

below: The poster on the left references the adoption of First Nations children by non-Native families often referred to as the Sixties Scoop because it reached its peak (most adoptions) in the 1960s.  The plight of Indigenous women is the subject of the other poster – the disproportionate number of whom have been murdered or went missing.

2 posters, adoption of mass destruction, and I am a mother sister auntie grandmother, protest signs on indigenous rights and past Canadian history of abuses

a man on a bike and a woman with a large backpack standing in front of posters by Jay Soule on display outside at Harbourfront, Indigenous Rights, history of abuse, protest,

There is also a display of large photographs by Meryl McMaster.

below: What Will I Say to the Sky and the Earth II.

large photograph by Meryl McMaster on display at Canada Square at Harbourfont - woman standing in the snow

below: On the Edge of This Immensity

woman holding a small boat on her shoulders, lake in the background, large photograph by Meryl McMaster on display at Canada Square at Harbourfont

below: As Immense as the Sky

woman with back to camera on a rock ledge overlooking a green landscape large photograph by Meryl McMaster on display at Canada Square at Harbourfont

in-between at Ontario Square

Posted: November 11, 2015 in public art
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‘In-Between Worlds’ is a series of photographs by Canadian photographer Meryl McMaster.   This series centres around the role of McMaster’s dual heritage in her search for self;  The images represent her being part of, and also being between, two different cultures as she is part Cree and part ‘European’.

Three of the images are on display at Ontario Square by Queens Quay West and Lower Simcoe St.

below: Horse Dance.  The bright red and blue of the shaggy hobby horses against a winter landscape makes for an eye catching picture.  On closer look, you realize that there is a person’s head inside one of those horses’s head.  Heads that have no eyes to see or mouths to speak.

A large photograph of three red hobby horses with long blue mane, taken outside in the winter in the snow, with bare trees in the background. A mix of the real (outdoors) and the unreal (hobby horses instead of real horses). Photo is Mounted on a concrete wall outside.

below: Wingeds Calling.  Around the corner there is another picture of a person in costume, playing the role of a real, yet not real, animal.  A large black bird-like figure walks on the frozen ground, perhaps too big and awkward to fly.

A photograph Mounted on a concrete wall outside of a person draped in a large black cape and wearing a head piece that looks like a large black bird. Photo taken outside in winter so the background is all white and grey like a foggy winter day.,

below: Wind Play Variation.  The third picture baffles me a bit.  Although this is another picture of a person assuming a role,  this time the creature is totally of the artist’s imagination.  A blue hairy thing that is slightly blurry as it walks amongst the pine trees.   Is it coming or going?

Photo of a blue furry creature taken in winter with snow covered evergreens in the background. Mounted on a concrete wall outside.