Glam North: Doris McCarthy and Her New Contemporaries

The DMG is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an exhibition that pays tribute to Doris McCarthy’s glamourous depictions of the Canadian North, alongside current voices whose works look to nature to cast a light on contemporary life. Glam North explores the questions and revelations that surround our relationship to the natural world.

Curators Jennifer Rudder and Alexander Irving posit surprising and challenging affinities between McCarthy’s dedicated production and that of the next generation of artists. Glam North considers the idea of North in the context of the Canadian landscape, from Ontario (Robert Wiens’ watercolours of the old growth pine forests of Temagami) to Newfoundland (David Clarkson’s deconstructions of the icebergs off of Fogo Island), Nunavut (Samonie Toonoo’s sculptures depicting the intensity of contemporary struggles in Cape Dorset) to the imaginary (Alex McLeod’s Christmas tree-dotted digital landscapes). The North, particularly its visualization as a majestic space, was central to McCarthy’s work throughout her career. Glam North includes paintings by McCarthy that represent a wide variety of places and periods in her artistic practice, celebrating her love and reverence for the great outdoors.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an online publication. Essays by Jennifer Rudder and Alexander Irving take a closer look at representations of the North – myth and glamour, power and politics – and investigate how looking outward can lead to inner discoveries.