UP COMING EXHIBITION AT RYERSON IMAGE CENTER

HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN WRONGS
January 23 – April 14, 2013
Curator: Mark Sealy
Main Gallery

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WARNING: Please be aware, this exhibition contains photographs that may be disturbing to viewers due to the graphic or violent nature of the subject matter. Viewer discretion and parental guidance are advised.

Using the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a point of departure, HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN WRONGSexamines whether images of political struggle, suffering and victims of violence work for or against humanitarian objectives, especially when considering questions of race, representation, ethical responsibility and the cultural position of the photographer.

Featuring more than 300 original prints from the prestigious Black Star Collection, HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN WRONGS begins circa 1945 and includes photographs of well-known Civil Rights Movement events such as the Selma to Montgomery March and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The exhibition also features images of the independence movements in many African countries, a selection of portraits of Nobel Peace Prize winners, and photographs, magazines and books which document protests, war and conflict from the Vietnam War to the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.

The exhibition functions as a catalytic enquiry into photojournalistic practice, addressing the legacy of how photographs have historically functioned in raising awareness of international conflict.    It critically considers the cultural meaning these photographs produce, how inhumane acts are rendered photographically for us to look at, and the visual legacy they leave behind. We see the wide dissemination of photographic images of humankind in abject, euphoric or violently explicit conditions. How do these images assist us in understanding the case for civil and human rights?

Guest Curator Mark Sealy has a special interest in photography and its relationship to social change, identity politics and human rights.

Since 1991 as director of Autograph ABP he has initiated the production of many publications, exhibitions and residency projects and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide. In 2002, he jointly initiated and developed a £7.96 million capital building project (Rivington Place), which opened in 2007 and developed in partnership with the Institute of International Visual Arts.

He has written for several international photography publications, including Foam Magazine (Amsterdam), Aperture(New York) and Next Level (London). Published in 2002, Sealy’s book project published by Phaidon Press Limited entitled Different, focuses on photography and identity and is produced in partnership with Professor Stuart Hall.

His most recent curated projects include the commissioning of The Unfinished Conversation a film-work by John Akomfrah on the political life of Professor Stuart Hall first staged at the Bluecoat Gallery as part of the Liverpool Biennial 2012. Roma-Sinti-Kale-Manush, a group show that examined the representation of Roma Communities across Europe was on display at Rivington Place (London) from May 25 to July 28, 2012.

He has served as a jury member for several prestigious photography awards including the World Press Photo Competition. He has also guest lectured extensively throughout the UK and abroad including The Royal College of Art and has recently devised MA studies programs for Sotheby’s Institute of Art on global photography.

Sealy is currently a PhD candidate at Durham Centre for Advanced Photographic Studies at Durham University, England. His research and curatorial practice focuses on photography and cultural violence.

In February 2010, Mark Sealy conducted an interview with Civil Rights photographers Bob Fitch and Matt Herron. To watch an excerpt of the interview, please click here.

Presented by TD Bank Group.

With additional funding the Paul J. Ruhnke Memorial Fund, the Howard and Carole Tanenbaum Family Charitable Foundation and Ryerson University.



HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN WRONGS is a collaboration with Autograph ABP (supported by Arts Council England).

      

http://www.ryerson.ca/ric/exhibitions/HRHW.html

Last year in February, I encountered the artist Deanna Bowen when she has been invited by Dr. Charmaine Nelson to give a talk about her art practice at McGill University. I admire this artist for the depth of her inquiries which many times relate to difficult social issues that are kept silent, and according to me,  this exhibtion explores a subject matter that many prefer to burry deep in North American history's unconsciousness instead of digging into it, precisely because it presents research on the KKK movementin the Us and in Canada.Bowen first tackled the subject with The Paul Good Papers in 2012 which was an interdisciplinary installation- performance work.  

The Art Gallery of York University

Deanna Bowen: Invisible Empires

16 January – 17 March 2013

Opening Reception:

Wednesday, January 16, 6 – 9 pm

Deanna Bowen: Invisible Empires is a bold exhibition that presents a view on the Ku Klux Klan both during the American Civil Rights Movement era and its century-long history in Canada. The long-standing research stems from Toronto artist Deanna Bowen’s inquiry into her own ancestry of Black pioneers who emigrated from Oklahoma to northern Alberta in the early twentieth century, research that previously has formed the basis of her autobiographical approach. Her autobiographical approach and archival investigations, though, deviate in this exhibition. Documents no longer serve the purpose of memorializing a traumatic past experience by means of an empathetic act of witnessing in the present, working through the traumatic archives of memory. Instead she “crosses the line” into enemy territory by working with an “archive” of Klan material. In fact, she creates the archive, memorializing it to another purpose. In this endeavor, she, furthermore, “crosses the line” in what is expected or permitted of a Black artist by, in effect, reversing her area of concern from Black Studies to White Studies.

“Working through” takes on a whole new dimension when the archives that supposedly are memorialized are those of the KKK, and when these documents and scenarios are re-enacted. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a live theatrical, costumed re-enactment of a twenty-minute October 24, 1965, CBC television interview between Calvin Craig, Grand Dragon of the Georgia Realm of the United Klans of America and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; his fellow Klansman George Sleigh; Civil Rights activist Reverend James Bevel; andThis Hour Has Seven Days host Robert Hoyt. The re-enactment takes place on a reconstructed This Hour Has Seven Days’ stage set, which houses a video projection of the performance during the exhibition.

The exhibition also includes photographic documentation of Canadian sites of Klan cross burnings, photographic documentation of Klan paraphernalia, as well as works from Bowen’s The Paul Good Papers, a project based in part on the archives of ABC news correspondent Paul Good, a veteran of Civil Rights reporting. The exhibition utilizes all sites of the AGYU, including the Vitrines and The Performance Bus.

The artist says of her artistic focus: “A project in mapping African diasporic movement and a genealogical investigation in equal measure, my autobiographical, process-driven interdisciplinary practice is concerned with the document and the act of witnessing. My practice revolves around the research and creation of conceptually rooted works that draw upon interrogations of personal and community-based genealogical research, local and international ‘domestic’ histories, American slavery, Migration and Diaspora studies, Trauma theory and corollary discussions of memory and testimony, Southern Gothic Literature, and contemporary debates about political/personal art production. My works are informed by theories related to the aestheticization of the ‘unspeakable’ as they contribute to my efforts to reconstitute the self/collective by artistically ‘working through’ familial and community silences.”

Deanna Bowen: Invisible Empires is curated by AGYU Director Philip Monk

Deanna Bowen: Invisible Empires is generously sponsored by Partners in Art

The (Performance) Buses Are A’Comin’

Sorry Jim Crow, there’s no more room for you on this bus! The Performance Bus departs OCADU (100 McCaul Street) on Wednesday, January 16 at 6 pm sharp, tracing an appropriate route through history and into the present as Shelley Hamilton, Reena Katz, and Archer Pechawis take you on a ride to and from the opening reception of Deanna Bowen’s exhibition at AGYU. The Performance Bus returns downtown at 9 pm. Free.

For more information:

http://theagyuisoutthere.org/everywhere/?page_id=1510
http://www.deannabowen.ca/works.html

Happy Martin Luther King day! Since this months's theme was inspired by this important day, I might as well   post about it! :)

Martin Luther King, Jr,  credit: Trikosko, Marion S.

Call for submissions for our Vitrine Exhibition

EAHR Speaker Series

French version will follow.

 “ ‘...the Canadian inhabitants are remarkably fond of dancing’: Reading the African Musicians in George Heriot's Print ‘Minuets of the Canadians’ (1807)”

Please join us for the next EAHR Speaker Series event on Thursday January 31^st 2012, from 6:30pm – 8:00 pm in room EV-1.615, for a special presentation by Dr. Charmaine Nelson (Associate Professor, Dept. Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University), featuring a fascinating discussion on 19^th century Quebec society, Africans and slavery in Quebec, and visual culture and the representation of Africans through George Heriot's print ‘Minuets of the Canadians’ (1807).

Published as one of 28 prints in George Heriot's illustrated book Travels through the Canadas... (1807), the foldout print Minuets of the Canadians is an intriguing image of Quebec social interaction. The image depicts a scene of merriment; a dance at which a large group of mainly white men and women have gathered to dance the minuet. However, the presence of three black male musicians amongst the large group of merry-makers calls attention not only to the little known practice of Canadian slavery, but to the central role of black males as musicians for their white owners' pleasure/entertainment in various locations across the Americas. Furthermore, the black musicians are joined by two white males indicating a level of musical hybridization and cooperation, likely necessitated by the smaller numbers of enslaved Africans in Quebec when compared to other tropical sites of slavery. This talk will explore the visual representation of the black trio as an indication of the resilience of African musical traditions, which surviving the Middle Passage, prolifically shaped the new hybrid forms of expressive culture in the Americas (including Quebec and Canada). It will also explore the prevalence and implications of an insidious white imperial gaze within the context of African expressive cultural continuity.

Charmaine Nelson is an Associate Professor of Art History, in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University, Montreal. Producing ground-breaking contributions to the fields of the Visual Culture of Slavery, Race and Representation and Black Canadian Studies, Nelson’s research, teaching interests include postcolonial and black feminist scholarship, critical (race) theory, Trans Atlantic Slavery Studies and Black Diaspora Studies. Her work examines Canadian, American, European and Caribbean art and culture.

Sarah C. de Montigny and Geneviève Wallen 

EAHR Media coordinators

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 “ ‘...the Canadian inhabitants are remarkably fond of dancing’: Reading the African Musicians in George Heriot's Print ‘Minuets of the Canadians’ (1807)”

Veuillez nous joindre jeudi le 31 janvier 2013 pour notre prochain événement EAHR Speaker Series de 6:30pm – 8:00 pm dans la salle EV-1.615. Durant cette présentation spéciale, Dr. Charmaine Nelson (Professeure, associée Dept. histoire de l’art et études en communication, Université McGill), discutera de la société québécoise du 19^e siècle. Par le biais de cette discussion, il sera question de l’historique méconnu de la présence Africaine et de l’esclavage au Québec au travers de la culture visuelle de l’époque et l’ouvrage de George Heriot ‘Minuets of the Canadians’ (1807).

Minuets of the Canadians, l’une des 28 estampes du livre illustré Travels through the Canadas... (1807) par George Heriot, illustre une intrigante scène sur les coutumes québécoises de cette période. L’image présente un événement festif, en effet, on y retrouve un large groupe composé d’hommes et de femmes caucasiens rassemblés en formation afin de danser le Menuet. Cependant, la présence de trois musiciens noirs parmi un groupe de comédiens souligne la pratique méconnue de l’esclavage en territoire Canadien, ainsi que le rôle qu’occupaient les hommes noirs en tant que musiciens de récréation pour les propriétaires au sein de plusieurs plantations à travers l’Amérique. Par ailleurs, les musiciens noirs de cette estampe sont accompagnés par deux hommes blancs indiquant ainsi une hybridation musicale découlant d’une coopération nécessaire à cause du nombre restreint d’esclaves Africains au Québec. Donc, cette conférence explorera la représentation visuelle de ce trio de musiciens qui incarne la survivance des traditions musicales Africaine par les voies de l’hybridation suite à une migration forcée. Cette adaptation a donc créé une nouvelle expression culturelle au sein des Amériques (incluant le Québec et le Canada). De plus, cette session traitera de la prévalence et les implications de l’insidieux regard impérialiste dans le cadre de la continuité de l’expression culturelle africaine.    

Charmaine Nelson est une professeure associée en histoire de l’art en le department d’histoire de l’art et etudes en communication à l’université McGill. Elle a produit des recherches avant-gardistes qui ont contribuées en les domains académiques cernant la culture visuelle de l’esclavage et la représentation ethnique et les études Afro-Canadiennes. Charmaine Nelson centre ses études sur les discours traitant du post colonialisme, du féminisme noir, de théories critiques sur les relations raciales, de l’esclavagisme trans-atlantique et la diaspora noire. Son travail examine l’art et la culture des Canadiens, Américains, Européens and Caribéens. 

Sarah C. de Montigny and Geneviève Wallen 

Coordinatrice media pour EAHR

Dear EAHR members,
Our theme for this month is Human rights. Throughout January we will post exhibitions, articles and art events related to this important issue.

Mai Gallery:

Étrange dictature (2012)

Sayeh Sarfaraz (Montréal) 

Installation

January 19 to February 16, 2013

« By a power transfer, the artist becomes the mistress of her own world as an outlet where her thoughts can freely unfold. » – CAMBRIDGE TIMES (Cambridge, Canada)

The installation Étrange dictature casts in relief the brutality and violence of the world’s dictatorships and citizen demonstrations in favour of their rights. The work tirelessly archives these “experiences which will never be erased from our collective memory.” The artistic universe of Sayeh Sarfaraz draws its inspiration from political events connected to the government of her birthplace. Her installations, with a nod to Persian miniatures and poetry, are both playful and political, virulently denouncing Islamic dictatorships. The constant distress of conflict, censorship and the isolation of the Iranian people is conveyed through the simple language of plastic toys and drawings. Directly related to her itinerancy and exile, the figurines she arranges in child-like and haphazard ways are exposed to dramatic situations such as violent battles, bombings and imprisonment.

Sayeh Sarfaraz was born in Shiraz, Iran’s cultural capital, and has lived in Montreal since 2008. She works in drawing, installation and video. Several cities have hosted her work, including Strasbourg, New York, Paris, Berlin, Leipzig and Montréal. In 2010-11 Sayeh Sarfaraz was artist in residence at the Darling Foundry. She is currently represented by the Antoine Ertaskiran gallery in Montreal.

L’installation Étrange dictature met en relief la brutalité et la violence des dictatures dans le monde et leur antagonisme : les protestations et les manifestations civiques pour les droits d’un peuple. Inlassablement, l’artiste archive ces « expériences qui ne s’effaceront jamais de notre mémoire collective ». L’univers artistique deSayeh Sarfaraz puise son inspiration à même les événements politiques liés au gouvernement de son pays d’origine. Clin d’œil aux miniatures persanes et à la poésie, à la fois ludique et politique, ses installations dénoncent avec virulence les dictatures islamistes. L’angoisse permanente du conflit, de la censure et de la séquestration du peuple iranien se transmet par le langage naïf d’une collection de jouets de plastique et de dessins. En lien direct avec son itinérance et son exil, les figurines, mises en scène selon des parcours enfantins et aléatoires, vivent des situations dramatiques comme des combats violents, des bombardements, des emprisonnements.

Née à Chiraz, la capitale culturelle de l’Iran, Sayeh Sarfaraz vit à Montréal depuis 2008. Sa pratique inclut le dessin, l’installation et la vidéo. Son travail a été présenté dans plusieurs villes, dont Strasbourg, New York, Paris, Berlin, Leipzig et Montréal. Bénéficiant d’un programme de résidence de création à la Fonderie Darling en 2010-2011, Sayeh Sarfaraz est actuellement représentée par la galerie Antoine Ertaskiran à Montréal.

© Sayeh Sarfaraz

Site internet de l'artiste: http://www.sayehsarfaraz.com/en_works.html

CALL OUT FOR PAPERS/ APPEL DE DOSSIER 

 By SASA  (Student Art Studies Association).

CALL FOR PAPERS
Art and The Body
February 9th
Second Annual Undergraduate Art History Conference


Bodies are contentious spaces. The body works as a site of expression, agency, power discourse, and intense debate surrounding traditional dichotomies of subject/object, inner/outer and form/matter. This conference is about exploring these thematics through an investigation of the body as a dynamic and expressive field within and throughout artistic practice. Whether approaching the intersection of art and the body from the perspective of phenomenology, performance, scientific representation, or a broad range of other possible frameworks, a space opens for critique, juxtaposition, expression and theoretical discourse.

The Student Art Studies Association of Concordia University (SASA) invites undergraduate students interested in art and visual culture to submit one page (250 word) abstracts. Papers addressing both historical and contemporary issues are welcome, as are case studies of specific artworks, exhibits, publications or institutions. We will be accepting 12 papers, which will be presented on the 9th of February at Concordia University’s York Amphitheatre.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
-Embodiment
-Issues of representation
-Phenomenology
-Performance art
-Contemporary art and artists
-Spatial theory
-Abjection


SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please send a one-page abstract (in English or French), a short biographical note indicating your name, department and institution of study and all relevant contact information to sasa.art.studies@gmail.com, subject: Undergraduate Art History Conference.


SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 11th at 11:59PM

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Vous trouverez ci-dessous l'appel de communications pour la deuxième conférence de premier cycle en histoire de l'art qui aura lieu à Concordia University. S'il vous plaît distribuer l'appel à vos étudiants de premier cycle et postez-le sur votre site web de département.

APPEL DE COMMUNICATIONS

L’art et le corps

9 février

Deuxième conférence annuelle en histoire de l’art de premier cycle

Le corps est un espace controversé qui agit comme lieu d’expression, d’intervention, de

discours de pouvoir, et de débat animé entourant les traditionnelles dichotomies sujet-objet,

interne-externe, et forme-matière. Cette conférence porte sur l’exploration de ces thèmes à

travers l’étude du corps en temps que champ dynamique et expressif dans l’ensemble de la

pratique artistique. Plutôt que d’aborder l’intersection où se rencontrent l’art et le corps sous

l’angle de la phénoménologie, de la performance, de la représentation scientifique ou de tout

autres cadres possibles, un espace s’ouvre à la critique, à la juxtaposition, à l’expression et au

discours théorique.

L’Association des étudiants et étudiantes en art de l’Université Concordia (SASA) invite les

étudiants de 1er cycle qui s’intéressent à l’art et à la culture visuelle à soumettre un résumé

d’une page (250 mots). Les exposés sur les questions historiques et contemporaines

sont acceptés, tout comme les études de cas d’œuvres, d’expositions, de publications

ou d’institutions spécifiques. Nous accepterons 12 articles qui seront présentés à

l’amphithéâtre York de l’Université Concordia le 9 février.

Les sujets possibles incluent, entre autres :

- la corporéité;

- la problématique de la représentation;

- la phénoménologie;

- l’art performance;

- l’art et les artistes contemporains;

- la théorie spatiale;

- la dégradation.

DIRECTIVES

Prière d’envoyer un résumé d’une page (en anglais ou en français), une courte biographie

indiquant votre nom, votre département, votre établissement d’enseignement, et toutes

coordonnées pertinentes à sasa.art.studies@gmail.com, sujet : Conférence en histoire de l’art

de premier cycle.

DATE LIMITE

VENDREDI LE 11 JANVIER, à 23 h 59

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//SASA

Student Art Studies Association