Last chance to see I AM HERE

Taking over Level 5 of the AGO is I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces, a spread of more than 500 years of artmaking showing off the many ways we capture, share and cherish our everyday lives. Featuring a medley of artworks from the Renaissance to the present, by some of the biggest names in art history, you can take a joyous journey through some of the things we love to document the most, including food, pets, celebrities, protest and music. 

“The Art Gallery of Ontario’s new exhibition, I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces, feels like a much-needed ray of sunshine after an isolating winter,” describes culture writer Sue Carter from the Toronto Star. “It’s not just that the multisensory show is big, bright and visually impressive, spanning eras and disciplines with a checklist of marquee names, but I AM HERE acknowledges an age-old desire to have our everyday experiences witnessed through art, whether it be filtered through a painting of a familiar highway or a melancholic photo of a hospital curtain.” 

The curators’ take on mixing art and non-art in the exhibition, blurring lines between the two, did not disappoint. Art critic Kate Taylor from The Globe and Mail writes in her review, “It is a show that juxtaposes – to great effect – historic, renowned, professional art with the anonymous and the amateur: home movies, family photo albums, that cool Instagram feed.”

Amongst the many objects on view, We Buy White Albums by Rutherford Chang particularly caught the attention of writer Peter Howell during his visit. “Taking it all in at once is a truly Zen experience,” said Howell in his review. “Chang adds a unique sonic element to it, with a recording he's made of 100 unique copies of the "White Album". They've been layered over top of each other, and the slight imperfections introduced and amassed by this method causes the music to drift out of sync in a most peculiar yet pleasing way.”

From a different perspective, the many faces of people and their everyday lives throughout the exhibition touched the heart of Paula ter Kuile from Toronto Guardian. “To me, this must be why I AM HERE is so compelling. Seeing these snapshots of people’s lives connects you to them, even just for a moment,” said Kuile. “You can see yourself in them and even without actually knowing their story, you have a great empathy for whatever their struggles must have been. And their joys. And their curiosities. And their fears.”

Finding intimate human connections to the art on display was a huge anchor that shaped many visitors’ experiences. Jen McNeely from She Does The City said, “I AM HERE is a riveting trip through time and an enthralling kaleidoscope that reflects the human experience.” Catherine MacIntosh from Designlines notes, “It shows off what the AGO does best — creating points of human connection with the viewer. From home movies (pre-digital), to paintings, music and ephemera (grocery lists, even), the vast array of pieces creates a sensory-rich exhibition that delves deep into the life of the artist (and all of us).”

Nadia Ozzorluoglu from Broken Pencil  beautifully summarized the exhibition in her piece featuring the exhibition’s co-curator Jim Shedden. To her, I AM HERE is “an ode to the beauty within the ordinary.”

Come see I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces before it closes August 14. 

The exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and co-curated by Jim Shedden, AGO Manager of Publishing, and Alexa Greist, AGO Associate Curator and R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints & Drawings, in collaboration with archivist and writer Rick Prelinger. Sign up to AGOinsider and stay up-to-date with our exhibitions, events and programs.