{"id":352,"date":"2024-10-05T16:04:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T20:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artspace.thecreativeschool.torontomu.ca\/?p=352"},"modified":"2025-10-27T08:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T12:50:07","slug":"relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artspace.thecreativeschool.torontomu.ca\/?p=352","title":{"rendered":"Relations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Relations<\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n


Alec Boyle, Charlotte Lai, Jessica Berger,
Joon-Young Lee, Sabrina Dewes,
& Sidney Haqq<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Curated by Jamie Edgehill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition<\/strong>: July 18th – September 14th
Opening Reception<\/strong>:  July 18th 6-9pm<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Relations <\/strong>is a group exhibition featuring work by emerging artists of Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s School of Image Arts, exploring various approaches to relationships. In these bodies of work, the artists use photography to engage with the multiple facets of relationships, navigating how relations are made, how they are held, and how they grow, change and withstand time. They examine how identity plays a role in how we relate to others and how personal growth can transform and shift relationships. Each artist offers an akin yet distinct approach to capturing these cherished connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offering insights into the beauty of human connections and community, a profound love that we as humans can hold for each other, these projects capture a celebration of shared similarities and differences, support and connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a chapter of bell hooks\u2019 \u201call about love: new vision,\u201d she discusses living by a \u201clove ethic.\u201d1<\/sup> It is essential to value and care for each other and to respect the labour involved in care practices.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe do this by choosing to work with individuals we admire and respect; by committing to give our all to relationships; by embracing a global vision wherein we see our lives and our fate as intimately connected to those of everyone else on the planet.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Present in these works is a love and appreciation for these profound and persistent connections. There is a yearning to freeze this moment and reflect on the glimpse of the relationship captured at that specific time. It is bittersweet that, with time, these relationships change and grow, but it is a moment that will always be cherished. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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L\u2019Anima Doppia, Alec Boyle<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Relations <\/strong>is a group exhibition featuring work by emerging artists of Toronto Metropolitan In Alec Boyle<\/strong>\u2019s project, \u201cL\u2019Anima Doppia,\u201d he tells the story of Michelina and Guiseppe Di Tiello and \u201cexplores confessions of assimilation, tradition, and identity of the Italian-Canadian immigrant.\u201d Through his experience of creating this work, Boyle explored his own identity, grappling with his \u201cCanadian upbringing and the fading traditions woven into my Italian familial history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat We Are\u201d By Charlotte Lai<\/strong> explores her family\u2019s experiences with being part of a mixed-race household. Curious to hear from her family and to consider her own feelings and experiences with race and identity, Lai\u2019s images offer a glimpse into the loving connections her family shares, the racism they have faced and how their shared experiences and differences have shaped their relationships to each other. \u201cThrough warm-toned images with recurring themes of growth represented through plants, written testaments from my family members, as well as going through archival photographs of my grandparents and elder family members, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of what connects us all through our different experiences within the same family.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jessica Berger\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cLost and Found\u201d is an exploration of girlhood, connection and identity. Through a mix of collage and portrait photography, this work encapsulates the shared experiences of girls navigating through their early twenties. Walking the line between adolescence and adulthood, this work combines imagery from Berger\u2019s personal archive with widely recognizable stickers and trinkets, creating a sense of understanding of girlhood and the delicate nature of female identity. \u201cThe portraits thrive in the awkward in-between moments where you see the connection between childhood and adult selves. They give a glimpse into the lives of my friends and explore the way girls are expected to perform their identities through reenacting stereotypical girly activities for the camera while also embracing the camaraderie and shared experiences of girlhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Lost and Found, Jessica Berger<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In The Mirror of Yesterday, Sidney Haqq<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Joon-Young Lee\u2019s <\/strong>\u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d is a love letter to the people they are closest with, expressing a fear of losing time with these connections, of the possibility that with time gone by will, these connections weaken. Thus, creating a desire for tangible evidence of their love and care for each other, Lee set out to capture tender moments and build a monument to them.  \u201cCan I trust my bare memory to remember what we talked about, or what you wore, or how we existed? I want to remember you. With photography as my ground, I use this medium to immortalize the essence of the people I love. To keep their image and memory alive in ways that simultaneously transcend and strengthen the limitations of memory. What I\u2019ve captured from January 2024 to April 2024 are more than just images. Besides my actions and words, this is how I love you. This is how I choose to keep you close to me even when life hesitates us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sidney Haqq\u2019s<\/strong> project \u201cIn The Mirror of Yesterday\u201d is about her experience of being a twin and her complex relationship with self and identity. As she reflects upon her current moment in adulthood, she draws connections to her experiences with her partner and being a twin; the similarities of being bonded with another person and growing as a pair but also as an individual. \u201cIndividuality is a complex concept for some to grasp. It is a word that means much more than autonomy; it is a condition of the mind. Growing up as a twin, I was never entirely an individual. I became well-accustomed to the support of close-knit bonds that directly influenced my being. Thus, my personal development and self-perception came through the relationships I held.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMinha Querida\u201d By Sabrina Dewes<\/strong> captures the relationship she shares with her mother, an appreciation of their special bond and unconditional love that they share. This series includes tender images of mother and daughter and their deep connections to each other. \u201cThe bond between a mother and her daughter is one of the most profound human connections to exist. They understand each other\u2019s emotions better than anybody else. Mothers and Daughters exist as oblique mirrors of each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See below for more from the artists.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Minha Querida, Sabrina Dewes<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1 bell hooks, All about love: new visions. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. See esp. chap. 6 \u201cValues: Living by a Love Ethic\u201d

2 hooks, All about love, 87-88.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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