Taking the politics of making as its point of departure, this group exhibition explores the cultural meanings that emerge from the materials artists use. Each of the eleven artists on view brings to the fore often-overlooked narratives, reconstituting and revising images, objects and histories through their unique material engagement.
Several artists engage social and political narratives that lie embedded within everyday provisions, such as sugar, textiles, flowers, and clay. Others use materials such as resin, steel, bronze, and wax to share intimate stories, whether about domesticity, family history, migration, or belonging. Read together, each of the works in Material Tells suggests a fluid and nuanced understanding of how histories and their subjects come to be, reflecting on the processes by which cultural narratives are pieced together, broken apart and otherwise reconfigured in the hands of artists.
Curated by Daisy Desrosiers
Alvaro Barrington, Kevin Beasley, Shannon Bool, Beverly Buchanan, Jesse Chun, Marie-Michelle Deschamps, Azza El Siddique, Ja'Tovia Gary, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Iris Häussler, and Kapwani Kiwanga.
Join us for our Authors on Art series with acclaimed writer Lawrence Hill. Held alongside Material Tells, an exhibition that looks at how cultural narratives are embedded in the materials artists use, Oakville Galleries has invited Hill to discuss his work as a writer.
Ride the ARTbus and discover some of the season's best exhibitions in the GTA! Visit the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Burlington and Oakville Galleries.
Learn more