Her Perpetual Becoming

September 21st - October 28th 2023

Exhibition Statement:

A group exhibition featuring work by current and recent IMA students Freida Wang, Grace Csizmadia, Mamoundu Mardis-Chatwin, Mariah Barlow and the EMILIA-AMALIA Mobile Feminist Library.

What does it mean to move through the world as a young woman today, a time in which the definitions of “girl” and “woman” are in constant flux? Sometimes those definitions seem to be expanding in wonderful, liberatory ways. Sometimes it seems that there might finally be room for choice and self-definition beyond the gender binary. At the very same time, we are constantly reminded that our freedoms are precarious, that our bodies are not ours, that recent privileges can be revoked and old orders reinstated at the flip of a switch. A change in government, a shift in the makeup of a higher court, a new box to check on a passport, even a new boss or roommate can too easily change our sense of self and security, our access to safety and wellbeing.

What does it mean to move through this world that offers so much, and yet guarantees almost nothing at all?

The artists in the exhibition Her Perpetual Becoming are grappling with these questions each in their own way. They are thinking about the lineages formed through female friendship, sisterhood, matrilineage and culture. They are considering borders, both literal and metaphysical. They are writing poems and making pictures that are willfully filled with contradictions and questions, beauty and ugliness, honesty and illusions. The artists in this show each have had their own experiences of moving through girlhood and into womanhood, and the uniqueness of those experiences is evident in the variety of depictions presented here. What unites the works is the complexity of those depictions and the confidence with which the artists express that experience. They are exceptionally adept at deploying mixed messages, complex images, and messed up metaphors. Not only are these relevant strategies for image-making in the 21st century, but they are necessary tools for surviving the complex process of moving through the contemporary world as young women, which is a precarious process of perpetual becoming.

The conversations in the works on display are extended by the presence of the EMILIA-AMALIA Mobile Feminist Library, which offers a collection of books on related subjects, to be read on site at your leisure.

Featured Artists

Freida Wang is a Chinese-born Canadian visual artist based in Toronto and Edmonton who works in multidisciplinary visual arts, photography, video and performance. Her work explores concepts of identity—and lack thereof—negotiating intersectionality and existentialism.Through a merging of the absurd and uncanny, she attempts to depict an understanding of existence from her own perspective as a queer immigrant woman. She draws inspiration from film and movement-based performance, hoping to be able to capture the moments of passage that accentuate the impermanent state of being that is existence.
Grace Csizmadia is an editorial photographer based in Toronto who is looking to experiment with new concepts and creative directions. Her work explores themes of identity, self-discovery, and girlhood. Csizmadia aims to expand her body of work by incorporating fine art and mixed media. Currently, she is seeking opportunities to increase her work exposure, enhance her online presence, and collaborate with models to further enrich her personal portfolio. Her photography has been featured in publications including HUES and Function Magazine, and it has been displayed in exhibitions such as Maximum Exposure.
Mamoundu Mardis-Chatwin is an emerging photographer originally from British Columbia and currently based in Toronto, ON. With a specialization in portrait and editorial photography, Mamoundu's artistic journey revolves around the exploration of words and their transformation into visual expressions. Through her work, she seeks to share her unique interpretations and understanding of written pieces, infusing her art with a poetic and narrative essence.
Mariah (she/her) is a visual artist currently based in Toronto, Ontario. She is a 2023 graduate of the Photography Studies (BFA) program at Toronto Metropolitan University, and also holds a Minor in Communication Design. Mariah’s mediums of interest centre around analogue processes, primarily 35mm and 120mm photography. In addition to her photography projects, Mariah explores the moving picture with super 8 videography, which has become a main area of interest in her practice. The majority of her work is rooted within personal themes and subject matter, with family members and important people being at the core of many of her projects. She aims to create soft, intimate portraiture that is often in conjunction with text to give the viewer a closer look into her life and the people within it.