A new University of Toronto art exhibit explains the unseen struggles of Black and Indigenous people that manifest as physical ailment.
The Labour art exhibit, set to open on Sept. 4, is inspired by Claudia Rankine’s book-length poem Citizen and explores how colonized people engage with white supremacy.
Guest curator, creative director, and Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist Ingrid Jones specializes in depicting the struggles of BIPOC artists, colonized individuals, and cultural workers that are often overlooked.
The exhibition challenges racial biases by showing how micro and macro aggressions can negatively impact Black and Indigenous communities.
“Rest plays a vital role in the work of decolonization and navigating the systemic discrimination embedded in power structures. For many Black and Indigenous people and people of colour, labour is expected, and there is a lack of attention paid to the invisible labour that must also be extended to deal with the stresses of racism,” Jones told Now Toronto on Wednesday.
The exhibition unveils the corrosive effects of unseen labour on the colonized from Black and Indigenous perspectives while exploring how this labour can be unburdened and shifted onto the dominant.
“This embedded feeling that rest is somehow not deserved makes us prone to overworking ourselves to the point of illness in service to the institution. To take rest when needed is not only an act of resistance to this notion that we are not deserving but also an opportunity to recalibrate and unlearn the stereotypical and harmful things we were taught about ourselves,” Jones said.
The art show features other local artists, including Natalie Asumeng, La Tanya S. Autry, Tony Cokes, Chantal Gibson, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and Martine Syms.
The different works fuse audiovisual elements, poems, meditation, and sculpture. For example, Syms’ work is featured as a digital video with a model of a Black woman wearing a shirt with the words, “to hell with my suffering,” written on her back.
Labour imagines ways of breaking out of a traditional relationship to work culture.
“Tony Cokes and Kosisochukwu Nnebe bring protest and resistance to the forefront, while Leanne Betasamosake Simpson highlights the power of community-driven alliances and self-determination. Martine Syms and La Tanya S. Autry challenges us to rethink our relationship with these spaces, and Chantal Gibson, Tanya Lukin Linklater, and Natalie Asumeng invite us to embrace rest as a radical act of renewal,” Jones said.
There will also be a free exhibition panel discussion on Sept. 29.
Labour will be available for viewing from Sept. 4 until Mar. 22, 2025, at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, located at 7 Hart House Circle. The exhibition is opening on Sept. 4 from 6-8 p.m., and regular gallery hours are Wednesday 12-8 p.m., and 12-5 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday.
