Rosalie Favell
Belonging (1982-2024)
Exhibition
Public
Belonging 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.
199 Richmond Street West
199 Richmond Street West
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Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982-2024)
June 18 to December 6, 2025
Curated by Ryan Rice
Belonging 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.
Click here to view the Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982-2024) Exhibition Publication
Above Image credits: Rosalie Favell, My first day of assimulation, 1996 (remastered 2024) from the series From An Early Age. Image courtesy of the artist.
Image credit: Rosalie Favell, I Awoke to Find My Spirit had Returned, 1999 from the series Plains(s) Warrior Artist (1999-2003). Image courtesy of the artist.
About Rosalie Favell
Rosalie Favell is a celebrated artist whose 40-year career has earned national and international recognition. Working with photography, video, portraiture, and painting, she is a leading figure in Indigenous contemporary art and photography.
Favell’s work is held in major institutions like the National Gallery of Canada, the Indigenous Art Centre, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. She has received numerous prestigious accolades, such as the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award, the Karsh Award, and an Honorary Doctorate from OCAD University.
Based in Ottawa, she continues to challenge boundaries, affirming Red River Metis history, and fostering dialogue on belonging and representation.
Image credit: Rosalie Favell, How could I go on as if it never happened, 1994 from the series Living Evidence. Image courtesy of the artist.
Free Public Events
Opening Reception – Wednesday, June 18, 2025, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West, Toronto
Join us for the launch of Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982-2024) and Rosalie Favell | Facing the Camera: TSÍ TKARÒN:TO
Artist’s Tour with Rosalie Favell – Thursday, June 19, 12 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
Join us for a captivating afternoon with acclaimed artist Rosalie Favell at Onsite Gallery!
From 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM, Favell will lead an insightful artist talk exploring her compelling and wide-ranging projects, Belonging (1982–2024) and Facing the Camera: TSÍ TKARÒN:TO. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with her powerful work and artistic journey.
Curator’s Tour with Ryan Rice – Friday, August 22, 12 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
Join us for an in-depth curatorial tour of the exhibitions Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982-2024) and Rosalie Favell | Facing the Camera: TSÍ TKARÒN:TO with curator Ryan Rice.
Longing and Belonging: Mixed Media Collage Workshop with Aaron Jones – Saturday, August 09, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond St. W.
Join artist Aaron Jones for a 3-hour hands-on, reflective workshop that explores the layered nature of identity through the medium of mixed media collage. Participants are invited to bring personal materials or use materials provided to assemble a visual self-reflection into a collage. Inspired by the themes of Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982–2024), this workshop invites participants to explore the complexity of self-representation and their sense of belonging.
For registration, please email onsite@ocadu.ca
Onsite Gallery as a Site of Knowledge: Faculty Workshop - Tuesday, September 02, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 pm, Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond St. W.
Join Onsite Gallery’s Ryan Rice (Executive Director + Curator, Indigenous Art) and Susan Jama (Programming and Community Coordinator) for an insightful gallery orientation workshop designed for faculty members interested in incorporating Onsite Gallery's exhibitions into their courses. The workshop will introduce the opportunity to utilize the gallery as a "site of knowledge" to support curricular goals and enhance learning experiences through art, media, design and curatorial practices.
Open only to OCAD University Faculty and Staff. Please register with Susan Jama at susanjama@ocadu.ca.
Creating your Archive: A Presentation and Workshop with Raegan Swanson – Wednesday, September 24, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
The ArQuives @ Onsite Gallery
Join us for Creating your Archive, a special presentation and workshop led by Raegan Swanson, Executive Director of The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ+ Archives. The session will focus on how artists can work to document their own story and history. Photos, letters, diaries, and art all tell a story about who we are and how we interact with the world. The workshop will include a discussion on how to collect your materials, how you might get materials organized, and what donating to an archive can include to preserve your creative legacy.
I Searched Many Worlds: In Conversation with Rosalie Favell - Saturday, October 4, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
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.
Registration page coming soon
Métis Scrip Lecture with William Benoit – Wednesday, October 29, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
Join us at Onsite Gallery for an eye-opening lecture with William Benoit as he unpacks the complex history and legacy of Métis scrip—a government-issued certificate that profoundly shaped Métis land rights and dispossession in Canada.
Polaroid Emulsion Lift Workshop with Cruz – Monday, November 03, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
Discover the magic of instant photography in this engaging 3-hour workshop exploring the Polaroid emulsion lift technique. Learn how to carefully extract and transfer the delicate emulsion layer of a Polaroid image onto watercolour paper, creating dreamy, one-of-a-kind photographic artworks. Perfect for artists, photographers, and anyone curious about alternative photo processes!
Please register with Susan Jama at susanjama@ocadu.ca.
Kinship Through Art – Friday, November 21, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., virtual via YouTube
Join us for a compelling panel conversation where invited artists and researchers delve into how familial histories, intergenerational memory, and kinship inform and inspire their creative practices. Through mediums such as photography, film, painting, textiles, performance, and research, panelists explore how personal and public archives come alive. Together, they reflect on how these layered, self-directed approaches to storytelling expand our understanding of identity, belonging, and collective memory.
Registration page coming soon
Creative Writing x Onsite Gallery III – Friday, November 14, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
Join us for a dynamic event showcasing OCAD U’s Creative Writing program community’s collective response to works in Onsite Gallery’s current exhibitions, Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982 to 2024) and Rosalie Favell: Facing the Camera: TSÍ TKARÒN:TO – through an expressive public reading and recital of poetry, spoken word and experimental interpretations.
Curator’s Tour with Ryan Rice II – Wednesday, December 03, 5 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond Street West
Join us for an in-depth curatorial tour of the exhibitions Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982-2024) and Rosalie Favell | Facing the Camera: TSÍ TKARÒN:TO with curator Ryan Rice.
Onsite Gallery is generously supported by The Delaney Family.
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