TORONTO (Feb 28, 2017) — Jaime Black the artist who created the striking and powerful installation piece, The REDress Project, her aesthetic response to the 1,200+ missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, will bring her dynamic work to Toronto as an artist in residence from March 16-22 at the University of Toronto, hosted by the Women and Gender Studies Institute, co-convened by Professor Karyn Recollet and Melissa Nesrallah (PhD Student).
“We are honoured to have Jaime Black as an artist in residency,” said Karyn Recollet, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Women & Gender Studies Institute. “It’s more vital than ever to be discussing themes identity, land and resilience, in particular missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Not only is this Jaime’s inaugural showing for the Toronto community, but this residency will mark the first time two of her important pieces will be shown together as one fluid installation.”
Black’s 2010 installation piece, The REDress Project comprises of ‘public display of hundreds of red dresses, to create ‘encounters’ with the disappeared and to mark their absence, sparking visceral reactions to their loss. The work aims to create space for public discussion and dialogue around the intersections of racism, misogyny and colonialism that are responsible for the precarious and dangerous position of Indigenous women in Canadian society.’
Her second piece, explores themes of memory, identity and resilience. Conversations with the Land (2016) activates elements of land art, performance and installation to attend to relationships between the land and the body. Mobilizing several modalities of creation, Conversations centers remembering and valuing cultural ties to the land.
“In many ways, Conversations with the Land works in contrast to The REDress Project. I wanted to find the places where we are strong, to remember and honour the ties we have to the land. For me the land is where I remember my strength and find connection and healing,” she said.
The Women & Gender Institute (WGSI) will host Jaime Black for the artist residency from March 16 – 22. This residency features a curated walking tour through The REDress Project installation, panel entitled “Indigenous futurities, land territory and belonging”, a Lisa Jackson film screening, amongst other exciting and important events.
