May 5 – June 25, 2022

Now You See Me

Works by Dayna Danger, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Gaëlle Elma, Leila Fatemi, Kablusiak, Meryl McMaster & Vivek Shraya
Curated by Sandy Saad-Smith

Core Exhibition in the 2022 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival

Now You See Me is an exhibition that brings together artists who consider the power dynamics of image-making through their distinct practices. Dayna Danger, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Gaëlle Elma, Leila Fatemi, Kablusiak, Meryl McMaster, and Vivek Shraya variously identify as women, femme, and non-binary, and use photography to explore issues related to gender and cultural identity.

Employing tactics of performing, concealing, and revealing their bodies and those of their collaborators, the artists produce works that challenge normative, colonial assumptions. They address pressing political realities that are closely tied to their personal histories, and reveal paradoxes inherent in representations of racialized bodies. Although the works in the exhibition are generated from different perspectives and experiences, they share a reckoning with the historical and contemporary uses of the camera as a tool to perpetuate degradative narratives. Asserting themselves as directors of their own images, the artists pose questions about the complex cultural and gender-related politics that underlie self-representation, shifting perceptions of the politics that inform image-making with sharp critique and blatant defiance, while kicking the door open for new stories and conversations.

Leila Fatemi, A Vessel to Bend Water, 2021/2022. Image Description: Cyanotype prints of various sizes are arranged on a white surface, each depicting a woman or women carrying large vessel jugs made of clay.

Gaëlle Elma, Harissa, 2018. Image Description: Photograph of a Black woman floating in a body of water. She is wearing a yellow bathing suit and is on her side with her knee and elbow bent. Her eyes are closed and she appears to be in a meditative state.

Kablusiak, Piliutiyara (Robin Hood), 2021. Image Description: Lightbox with a photograph of a female figure wearing lingerie in the middle of an open field of grass and flowers. It is a sunny day, and the blue sky reveals faint clouds in the distance. The figure stands with an ambivalent expression on their face and holds a large bag of Robin Hood brand flour.

Meryl McMaster, Truth to Power, 2017. Image Description: An artwork split in half vertically. On the right side is a handwritten text version of the 1898 poem “The Onondaga Madonna” by Duncan Campbell Scott that gradually fades to become almost illegible. On the right side is a photograph of a female figure with long brown hair wearing black pants, a brown coat, and a vest made of wooden dowels and leather. The figure stands in a gridded forest with trees in rows behind them. There is snow on the ground.

Vivek Shraya, Legends of the Trans, 2021. Image Description: Photograph of a figure on a horse in the middle of a grassy landscape with a forest and clear blue sky in the background. The figure has long blond hair, looks off into the distance, and is wearing a white dress shirt and a brown vest.

Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Skin Deep, 2019. Image Description: Photograph of a person directly facing the camera. The only part of their body that is revealed it their neck and shoulders. Their face is covered by a mask that matches the ornate pattern in the background of the photo. It is an orange Chinese silk design with pink, gold, yellow, and blue floral patterns.

Dayna Danger, Gi zhaa goo tha mik, Full Moon Tibikigiizhiswabigoon Ikwe, 2017. Image Description: Photograph of a woman with long black straight hair draped over her left shoulder and a tattoo on her right shoulder. Her head and face are covered by a a black beaded BDSM mask. The mask has one opening revealing her lips, a nose piercing, and upper lip piercing.