What matters most to you?

To Zun Lee, Toronto artist, educator and What Matters Most: Photographs of Black Life co-curator, an instant photograph does not simply freeze a moment in time. It is intimate, meaningful and extends past its fact as an object. On the wall of this exhibition is a quote by him that reads, “We understood that a photograph we cherish always moves with, in and through us; it never actually freezes time and space.” The Polaroid print itself triggers and activates memories, from celebrating birthday milestones to spending a mundane day-to-day afternoon. Family photographs are the moments that matter most during the course of a person’s life. 

Co-curated by Lee and Sophie Hackett, AGO Curator, Photography, the exhibition features the AGO’s Fade Resistance collection – a group of Polaroid instant prints of African-American family life from the 1950s to the early 2000s collected by Lee. The presentation shows more than 500 prints and prompts us to think about what these photographs mean and reveal. 

As you make your way through the space, you will see a table piled with cards that are reproductions of select Polaroid prints from the exhibition. There are three different versions of the back of the cards. Some are blank; some have a prompt that reads “What matters most to you?” and some feature short poems by poet, essayist and artist Dawn Lundy Martin.

Installation view, What Matters Most Photographs of Black Life,  August 27, 2022 - January 8, 2023. Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo © AGO.

The cards are an invitation to write thoughts, comments and feedback on what you are feeling in the moment in the exhibition; you can take one home, pass it to a friend or leave it in our gallery for others to ponder. So far, we have seen an array of responses including short poems, opinions, advice, stories and interpretations of photographs in English and other languages. 

Here are some examples.

Various photographers, instant prints, 1950s-2000s. Fade Resistance collection. Purchase, with funds donated by Martha LA McCain, 2018. From the exhibition What Matters Most: Photographs of Black Life, August 27, 2002 – January 8, 2023. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.