“In this inquiry, I ask: Can an exhibition give a glimpse of an imaginary Canada where the traumas of the past and the agonies of the present might lay the ground for a future built on elevating plural lineages, creeds, and belongings?”

Exhibition: “Looking the World in the Face,” group exhibition (featuring artists including Norval Morrisseau, Jamelie Hassan, Carl Beam, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Jeff Thomas, Edward Pien, Louise Noguchi, Shelly Bahl, Sherry Farrell Racette, Rebecca Belmore, Barry Ace, Reg Davidson, Pedro Isztin, Paul Robles, Shuvinai Ashoona, Howie Tsui, Sanaz Mazinani, Anna Jane McIntyre, Erik Jerezano, Jérôme Havre, Julie Oh, Meryl McMaster, and Cécilia Bracmort), Canada Council for the Arts, 50th anniversary of Art Bank, Âjagemô Exhibition Space, Ottawa, June 2022 – May 2023.

Keywords: exhibitions, curatorial practice, art, modern, contemporary, Norval Morrisseau, Noboru Sawai, Sam Tata, Ranjan Sen, Indira Nair, Qavaroak Tunnillie, Jamelie Hassan, Carl Beam, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Jeff Thomas, Emily Illuitok, Edward Pien, Louise Noguchi, Shelly Bahl, Sherry Farrell Racette, Rebecca Belmore, Skawennati Tricia Fragnito, Christina Peters, Gloria Inugaq Putumiraqtuq, Serapio Ittusardjuat, Barry Ace, Reg Davidson, Pedro Isztin, Paul Robles, Shuvinai Ashoona, Howie Tsui, Sanaz Mazinani, Abdi Osman, Sunil Gupta, Anna Jane McIntyre, Erik Jerezano, Joanne Hui, Raphael Bendahan, Jérôme Havre, Julie Oh, Ramona Ramlochand, Chih-Chien Wang, Meryl McMaster, Cécilia Bracmort, painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, inclusion, representation, diversity, plurality, multiplcity, resistance, defiance, visibility, underrepresented, Indigenous, racialized, Canadian, marginalized, otherized, faces, portraits, portrayal, nation, nationhood, history, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Image: Amin Alsaden