When you visit OCAD University’s Onsite Gallery from June 14 to December 9, 2023, you can explore an in-depth exhibition that delves into the concept of “Americanity,” or a shared cultural belonging to the American continents: North and South America.
On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging brings together two guest curators and eight artists, and features video, sculpture, mixed media installations and more. Co-curators Colette Laliberté, an Associate Professor Emerit at OCAD U and Analays Álvarez Hernández, an Assistant Professor at Université de Montréal bring their extensive experience to the exhibition.
Laliberté’s artwork has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. She has also participated in residencies in France, Spain, New York and Ontario, and curated Penance and Devotion at the Glendon Gallery, York University, Ontario; August and Portrait Oval, Artcite, Windsor, Ontario and Valérie Gill and Barbara Claus at Mercer Union, tsi Tkarón:to (Toronto), Ontario.
Álvarez Hernández focuses on public art, alternative exhibition venues, diasporic and Latinx-Canadian artists, and decolonial issues. As an independent curator, Álvarez Hernandez has organized several exhibitions mostly in Havana, tsi Tkarón:to (Toronto) and Tiohti:áke/Mooniyang (Montreal), such as The Recipe: Making Latin American Art in Canada (Sur Gallery, 2018; OBORO, 2020,) and Au fil des îles, archipels (Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal, 2022; Musée régional de Rimouski, 2023).
“The exhibition has been in development for over four years, and we are excited to engage a conversation with the theme of Americanity with artists from Montreal, Toronto and Bogotá,” say Laliberté and Álvarez Hernández. “As we install the works in the gallery, we are amazed by how timely the works feel and how it opens a conversation beyond divisions of borders, continents, or Americas.”
Laliberté and Álvarez Hernández worked together to curate an exhibition that aims to encourage people to reflect on and discuss their perceptions of the continent.
OCAD U Assistant Professor Immony Mèn is among the artists participating in On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging, alongside artists based in Bogotá, Toronto and Montreal, including Patricio Dávila, Estey Ducuara, Eddy Firmin, Fredy Forero, Alexandra Gelis, Caroline Monnet and Ximena Velásquez Sánchez.
The public is invited to an opening reception on Wednesday, June 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Onsite Gallery at 199 Richmond St. W. Workshops, panels and tours will follow throughout the duration of the exhibition.
About On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging
On Americanity and Other Experiences of Belonging aims to foster an understanding of Americanity and people’s perceptions of inhabiting the American continents. It seeks to put into dialogue its inhabitants beyond divisions such as Global North and Global South, North America and South America, or centre and periphery.
The exhibition considers whether the concept of Americanity implies the same experiences of belonging, whether a person lives in Bacatá (Bogotá), Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang (Montréal), or Tsi Tkarón:to (Toronto), and whether they were born in Abya-Yala (America) or on another continent.
The artists in this transcontinental exhibition explore the complex colonial histories across Abya-Yala (America) and shifting continental identities. The works are striking against the current global backdrop, which is shaped by migrations, Indigenous land recovery, systemic racism, constantly changing technologies, environmental disasters and health crises.
Learn more about the exhibition, the curators and the artists.
About Onsite Gallery
Onsite Gallery, OCAD U’s flagship professional gallery, presents contemporary, Indigenous, and public art and design to advance knowledge creation and stimulate local and international conversations on the urgent issues of our time.