Exhibitions

Practice as Ritual / Ritual as Practice

libby leshgold gallery
September 15, 2023

The Libby Leshgold Gallery and Artspeak Gallery are pleased to present Practice as Ritual / Ritual as Practice, a touring exhibition curated by Andrea Fatona and Nya Lewis.

On view at the Libby Leshgold Gallery
September 15 – November 5, 2023

Featuring artists: Buseje Bailey, Marie Booker, Claire Carew, DZI..AN, Khadejha McCall, Mosa McNeilly, Chloe Onari, Barbara Prézeau Stephenson, Winsom Winsom

Practice as Ritual / Ritual as Practice is a group exhibition featuring the work of nine Black Women artists who participated in the historical 1989 DAWA exhibition, Black Wimmin: When and Where We Enter, the first national exhibition to address the exclusion of Black women artists from the visual landscape of Canada. The exhibition attests to and affirms the heterogeneity of perspectives and forms that constitute Black Canadian women’s art today. Featuring primarily new commissioned works, including paintings, photography, text, installation, video, and sculpture, the exhibition highlights the sustained aesthetic and everyday practices of these artists who critically challenge the structures that delineate Black women’s lives in the current moment.

The title of the exhibition refers to an overarching theme that emerges in the artworks—one of tending to Black histories, presents, and futures—and to the labour involved in such a practice. The range of artworks and artistic approaches included draws attention to the role of knowledge gained via extra-rational modes, such as dreams and visions, in creating connections to lost knowledge, kin, and a deep desire for Black people’s liberation. Spirituality, memorialization, commemoration, play, transhistorical memory, anti-Black racism, and intergenerational knowledge transfer are key themes that emerge.