Visiting Artist Lecture: Ron Benner & Jamelie Hassan

Ron Benner and Jamelie Hassan are multidisciplinary artists, curators, writers, lecturers and activists based in London, Ontario, on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Attawandaron and Huron-Wendat peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum and other treaties. They are active as independent curators and have coordinated and exhibited in cultural programs in Canada and internationally. They have made contributions through artist-run centres, community and heritage projects and on the boards of public galleries and advisory panels.

In 1983, they co-founded, with jazz musician Eric Stach, the not-for-profit collective, the Embassy Cultural House, where they programmed many exhibitions and events at the Embassy Hotel in London, Ontario. They were involved in programs with the Embassy Cultural House and at various locations until 1990. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, their son Tariq Hassan Gordon relaunched the Embassy Cultural House online with Ron Benner and Jamelie Hassan as curatorial advisors and they re-envisioned the original brick-and-mortar artist-run centre as a virtual project and community collective.

Independently they have initiated numerous international programs and exhibited throughout Canada and internationally. They are the recipients of numerous awards, including the Ontario Arts Council, the Chalmers Art Fellowship and the Canada Council for the Arts international residency program in Paris, France. Their works are in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the University of Toronto; the McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London.

This talk is part of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series, co-presented by the Doris McCarthy Gallery & Studio Art program, Department of Arts, Culture & Media, University of Toronto Scarborough. The theme of this year's series, Stories Held by the Land, invites artists across diverse disciplines and geographies to share insights into their respective practices, approaching the land not as a fixed territory, but as a living site of encounter, responsibility, and transformation. Through their work, they reveal how histories are carried across generations, how communities are sustained through relationships to place, and how more just and resilient futures can emerge from renewed ways of relating to the land.

Free, open to the public. Drop-in, no registration is required for the public (U of T Scarborough students attending for course credit should register here). Pizza lunch will be served.

This program takes place on campus at U of T Scarborough, in Room BV304, located on the ground floor of the Bladen Wing building. For directions to campus, and public transit and parking information and rates, see the DMG’s Visitor Information. For first-time visitors to campus, we recommend consulting the campus map to help with wayfinding and give yourself some extra time.

This is a seated program. The Bladen Wing is wheelchair accessible. If you have accommodation needs, please let us know through the registration form or contact dmg.utsc@utoronto.ca.