Last call

This week is your last chance to experience Fragments of Epic Memory – the AGO’s celebration of art and artists of the Caribbean. This major exhibition closes Monday, February 21, after a nearly six-month run on Level 5 of the Gallery. 

Fragments, as described by Rea McNamara for Hyperallergic, “not only conjures the Caribbean diasporic past, present, and future but is uniquely attuned to Toronto’s legacy as an artistic epicentre for its diaspora.” Like a tapestry, the exhibition weaves together both historical and contemporary narratives of the Caribbean and its ever-expanding diaspora. There is much to see and experience – with paintings by Sybil Atteck, Sir Frank Bowling and Hurvin Anderson to photographs by Vanley Burke, Paul Anthony Smith and Robert Charlotte, and video installations by Alberta Whittle, Ebony G. Patterson and Jeannette Ehlers to name just a few. Not to be missed, of course, is the exhibition’s centrepiece: more than 200 historical images from the Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs, taken in the region from 1840 to 1940. 

In the spirit of celebration, we reflected on our coverage and put together a list of stories you need to read before you visit.

Leasho Johnson. Jaw bone (man looking back at the cane fields), 2019. Charcoal, watercolor, distemper, acrylic, oil stick, oil paint on canvas, Overall: 61 × 76.2 × 4.4 cm. Purchase, with funds from Friends of Global Africa and the Diaspora, 2021. © Leasho Johnson. 2021/30.

Uncovering Caribbean history

How did the AGO acquire the Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photographs? Thirty  donors predominantly from Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities helped make it happen. Plus, Dr. Julie Crooks, the exhibition’s curator, told us how she chose nearly 200 images from the collection of over 3,500 prints, postcards, daguerreotypes and more to feature in Fragments. 

From under the sea 

In this Q&A, Caribbean-based artist Nadia Huggins shared how she documents transformational moments as they happen under the sea. Writing of her hypnotic single-channel video, Circa no future (2016-2019) (on view in Fragments) Huggins explained, “[E]veryone has a very different relationship with the sea—some of us feel liberated, while others are terrified—but I wanted to create the safety of immersion for those who can't or won’t go there.” See also Q&As with Charles Campbell, Gomo George and Kelly Sinnapah Mary – all contemporary artists with works in Fragments. 

Freedom and folklore 

You can’t miss the 10-foot-tall mythical figure currently standing tall in Walker Court, the latest mixed-media sculpture in British-Trinidadian artist Zak Ové’s Moko Jumbie series. A contemporary spin on Afro-Caribbean mythologies, we learned about the cultural history within this commissioned work.

An Epic visit

The AGO welcomed two groups of local Caribbean seniors for guided tours of Fragments. “For the people of the Caribbean,” said visitor Carla Thomas, “the region is so much more than the sun, sand and sea depicted in tourist brochures. In the current Canadian context of solidarity with racialized communities, exhibitions such as Fragments of Epic Memory challenge the audience to move beyond the superficial to engage, to a degree, with the history and culture of the Caribbean in its complexity.”

An instrument for cultural resistance

What is the Caribbean without its rich musical heritage? Toronto-based steel pannists Earl La Pierre Jr. and Suzette Vidale discuss the enduring legacy of the steel pan, from its origins in the streets of Port of Spain to Toronto’s Caribana. See also our conversation with DJ Kevin Hood. 

Food memory magic

Ackee and saltfish. Griot. Curry goat. Ponche de crème. Celebrity chef, restaurateur and recording artist Roger Mooking chatted about the interconnectedness between food, memory and Caribbean culture in this Q&A. Mooking was also featured with Dr. Julie Crooks in Foodways, a new conversation series hosted by AGO Executive Chef Renée Bellefeuille. 

Piecing together the Fragments

One in a series of dynamic artist talks, Suchitra Mattai and Wendy Nanan discussed the importance of belonging and giving voice to Indo-Caribbean histories in their respective practices. We delved into their exchange, moderated by Dr. Ramabai Espinet. See also Leasho Johnson with O’Neil Lawrence and Natalie Wood and Charles Campbell with Honor Ford-Smith.  

Fragments of Epic Memory closes this Monday, February 21. Buy your tickets to this exhibition and the others currently on view here. Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the exhibition’s catalogue at shopAGO while you’re in the Gallery.