ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

This exhibition refers to forms of representation and interpretation and how Latinx bodies are rendered as other by a Eurocentric gaze. By challenging fetishized and exoticized codifications of race and ethnicity, the artists Nahúm Flores, Helena Martin Franco, Juan de Dios Mora, Diana Rosa, and Francisco González Rosas propose alternative ways of understanding mestizaje. They radicalize conventional paradigms of how certain identities are perceived and constructed to fulfill colonial structures that perpetuate systems of invisibility and omission. The artists in the exhibition portray cultural, social, and personal manifestations of identity and they mark the intricacies and nuances built after centuries of colonialism and decades of imperialism.

Identity preoccupations are often explored by artists from the diaspora, yet the richness of its multiplicity does not rely on nationalist histories or romanticized visions of culture. The artists in Overcoming Otherness critique the exclusionary production of identity politics. They offer sites of liberation and disrupt the notion of a harmonious mixing of cultures and ethnicities, often attached to ideas of mestizaje. The idealization of mestizaje renders Indigenous identity as static, archaic, and of the past. Feminist sociologist and activist Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, counterposes with the Aymara concept of ch’ixi – a parallel coexistence of difference – to ideas of multiculturalism and hybridity which are seen as a perpetuation of coloniality. This parallel coexistence does not erase but complement the very nature of multiplicity. The exhibition insists on a different understanding of identity and as such it problematizes notions of mestizaje and instead presents a nuanced and layered concept of what and how Latinx bodies shape and define their own representation in Canada.

 
Curated by Tamara Toledo.

LOCATION

Sur Gallery Exhibition: 39 Queens Quay East, Suite 100

PROGRAMMING

Opening Reception
Thursday, May 4, 7-9pm

Performance: Confessions of Elephant Woman with Her Hands in the Air by Helena Martin Franco
Thursday, May 4, 8pm

Curator Tour with Tamara Toledo:
Saturday, June 3, 3-4pm

Artist Talk with Francisco González Rosas:
Thursday, June 15, 7-8pm

Screenprinting Workshop with Azul Baez
Saturday, June 17 and 24, 12-2pm

Gallery Hours (during exhibition):

Thursday - Friday noon-6:00PM

Sat 11 AM-5 PM

Location:

100-39 Queens Quay East, Toronto