I Searched Many Worlds: In Conversation with Rosalie Favell

Join us for an in-depth conversation between artist Rosalie Favell, art historian Michelle McGeough, and Ryan Rice, Executive Director and Curator, Indigenous Art at Onsite Gallery.

In conjunction with the exhibition Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982–2024), this special event delves into the expansive forty-year artistic journey of Rosalie Favell through dialogue centered on her lens-based practice. The conversation will reflect on the curated works featured in the retrospective that foreground themes of identity, belonging, personal discovery, and the complex intersections of Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ and Canadian experiences and histories.

Co-sponsored by Native Women in the Arts.

Admission is free and open to all. 

Seating is limited—RSVP required. Visit Registration Page

A reception will follow.

About

Rosalie Favell is a distinguished Red River Metis artist who has achieved national and international acclaim, with a creative practice spanning over 40 years. Favell has used portraiture in photography, painting, and video to understand and represent her ancestry and identity in works that have been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. Drawing inspiration from her family history and Red River Metis heritage, she uses a variety of sources, from family albums to popular culture, to present a complex self-portrait of her experiences as a contemporary Indigenous woman.

Dr. Michelle McGeough (Cree /Métis and Settler) is originally from Amiskwaciwâskahikan, located in the Treaty Six region of what is presently referred to as Alberta. Dr. McGeough’s family names are Berard, Moreau, Belcourt, dit Sapin and L'hirondelle. Her father was from Northern Ireland. Michelle is currently an Associate Professor at Concordia University. She received her Ph.D. in Indigenous art histories from the University of New Mexico. Dr. McGeough’s research interests have focused on the Indigenous two-spirit/Indigiqueer identity.

Ryan Rice, Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawake, is a Toronto-based curator, critic, and creative consultant. With a curatorial career spanning over 30 years, he has worked across communities, museums, artist-run centres, public spaces, and galleries. Rice currently serves as Executive Director and Curator, Indigenous Art at OCAD University’s Onsite Gallery. He is the 2025 recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Margo Bindhardt and Rita Davies Cultural Leadership Award.

Native Women in the Arts (NWIA) is a not-for-profit organization for First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and other Indigenous gender marginalized folks who share the common interest of art, culture, community and the advancement of Indigenous peoples. https://www.nwia.ca

Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982 – 2024) is the first retrospective of renowned Red River Metis artist Rosalie Favell, showcasing a powerful curated selection of her lens-based works from 1982 to 2024. This exhibition celebrates Favell’s groundbreaking photographic practice—from seminal series like Living Evidence and Plain(s) Warrior Artist to her expansive archive Facing the Camera—which invites us to bear witness and explore the complex themes of identity, empowerment, same-sex desire, community and the nuanced search for belonging through a lens that is both deeply personal and subtly subversive.

Image Credit: Rosalie Favell, I searched many worlds (from Plain(s) Warrior Artist series), 1999, inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist.

Onsite Gallery is generously supported by The Delaney Family