An art exhibition exploring the creativity of the Caribbean diaspora in Britain is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art, 1950s-Now opened in Toronto in early December on loan from the Tate Britain in London, England.
The exhibit made its North American debut in Toronto last month, its only Canadian stop.
The collection recounts the impact of Caribbean art on British culture and art history over 70 years.
“Referencing poetry, film, activism and music, the exhibition reflects through art how Caribbean-British artists forged new identities, communities, and cultures in Britain, often in the face of hostility and discrimination,” the AGO said in a December press release.
Gelatin silver print, 63.5 × 78.7 cm25 x 31″. (Courtesy of the artist. © Vanley Burke.)
Life Between Islands features work from over 30 artists from the Caribbean and those drawn to and influenced by it, including Aubrey Williams, Donald Locke, Horace Ové, Isaac Julien, Sonia Boyce, Claudette Johnson, Peter Doig, Hurvin Anderson, Barbara Walker and Alberta Whittle.
Many of the artworks will be on display in Canada for the first time, marking the continuation of its cultural impact in the UK.
“This exhibition was a hugely important event in Britain, it invites us to continue the conversations the AGO began in 2021 with Fragments of Epic Memory, to share great art often unseen here in Canada and to consider the extraordinary impact that the Caribbean diaspora has had in Britain and globally,” AGO Curator, Arts of Global Africa, and the Diaspora Julie Crooks said in a press release.
(Courtesy of Felix & Spear Gallery © John Lyons, courtesy of Felix & Spear Gallery.)
“I’m confident that Toronto audiences – particularly those with personal connections to the Caribbean – will see aspects of their own experience in these histories. The scale, richness and power of these artworks defy easy categorization and need to be seen,” Crooks continued.
The exhibition aims “to tell the history of British art from a Caribbean vantage point,” said co-curators David A. Bailey, Artistic Director of the International Curators Forum, and Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain.
Despite its origins, its place in Canada is paramount.
“The Caribbean Diaspora is truly global and the experiences and ideas that fuel these artworks resonate far beyond Britain’s shores. Seeing this exhibition reborn in Toronto has been inspiring, and we eagerly look forward to seeing what audiences here bring to it,” Bailey and Farquharson said.
The exhibit’s multigenerational story is told in four parts, marking culturally canonized events such as the large-scale immigration from the Caribbean to Britain in the 1940s, the reclamation of carnival in the 1960s, the upswing in police violence, poverty, and activism that ripped through Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, and a selection of recent works by a new generation of Caribbean artists.
Admission to Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art, 1950s-Now is free for AGO members, annual pass holders, visitors 25 and under, and Indigenous Peoples.
Adult tickets cost $30, plus tax.
The exhibition runs until April 1.
