Amber Williams-King, preface ii (i have seen many suns...), appropriated image, indigo-dyed linen, wax-print fabric, beading and paint.
Image courtesy of the artist
The Breadth of Distance
we carry continents,
cross oceans,
traverse vast distances while still.
the scent of comfort,
is also longing.
what goes unsaid,
a kind of knowing.
how do elsewheres live in the body?
in dreams?
half-remembered tongues.
in what cannot be named.
Bringing together photography, video, installation, and sculpture, these artworks shift across geographies, cultural perspectives, and time. Considering grief, longing, care and resilience, they articulate how relationships to place, representation, and belief shape who we are and how we move in the present.
This exhibition asks us to reckon with how we came to be here on this land. Whether we are Indigenous, multi-generational settlers, or recent immigrants, our current moment demands we think through how we might build mutual understanding and empathy while recognizing our many differences.
Artist Bios
Amber Williams-King
Amber Williams-King is a multi-disciplinary Antiguan artist living and practicing in Toronto, Canada. Working in a variety of mediums including photography, collage, printmaking and animation, she sees mixed media as a way of acknowledging the multiplicity and fluidity of being. This self-taught practice seeks to challenge notions of a monolithic Black experience; exploring sexuality, gender, race, representation and the intersections of identity. She uses found texts and images to interrogate socio-political landscapes in an effort to excavate new possibilities and future imaginings. Much of this work starts from a deeply intimate place drawing from Amber's experiences as a Black queer femme living with chronic illness in a world that says she should not exist; she exists through her artistic envisioning. Amber has exhibited in spaces across Toronto including the Art Gallery of Ontario and has upcoming exhibitions in Montreal and Brazil.
Charlene Vickers is an Anishnabe artist living and working in Vancouver. Born in Kenora, Ontario and raised in Toronto, she explores her Ojibway ancestry through painting, sculpture, performance, and video examining memory, healing and embodied connections to ancestral lands. Trained as a painter, she graduated from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 1994 and attended Simon Fraser University, BA (1998) and MFA (2013.) Her work has been exhibited across Canada and the United States, and can be found in the permanent collection at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Vickers most recent solo exhibitions include, Speaking With Hands and Territories, SFU Galleries and Coverings at Macaulay and Co in Vancouver and group exhibitions The Map Is Not The Territory at the Portland Art Museum, I continue to Shape at The Art Museum at U of T in Toronto and An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries.
Melisse Watson
Shellie Zhang (b. 1991, Beijing, China) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. She has exhibited at venues including WORKJAM (Beijing), Scope Art Fair (Switzerland) and Public House of Art (Netherlands). She is a recipient of grants such as the RBC Museum Emerging Professional Grant, the Toronto Arts Council’s Visual Projects grant, and the Canada Council’s Project Grant to Visual Artists. Recent projects include a residency at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Creative Time Summit, and publication with the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU).
Gallery Hours
Monday - Friday 10AM - 4PM
North Space will be closed Monday, February 18th - Friday, February 22nd for Humber's Reading Week and Tuesday, March 5th - Wednesday, March 6th.
Opening Reception Wednesday, February 13th, 5-8pm at L Space Gallery.
Exhibition LibGuide
Click here to view the Educational Lib Guide for this exhibition.
Exhibition Images
Coming Soon