Critical Distance PROGRAMMING EXHIBITION: Exposing Liminalities

Featuring Azaeb Adane, Clayton Batson, Eli Carmona, Tahoy James, and Ebti Nabag. Curated by Emma German.

In partnership with Gallery 44, Exposing Liminalities brings together the work of five artists that expand, challenge, and question notions of the in-between. Employing elements of both analogue and digital photography practices, this exhibition considers the myriad intersections that can define oneself. Presented as a part of Critical Distance’s Summer Sessions, a program through which we support emerging curators and artists by providing free space, mentorship, and installation support for their thesis exhibitions.

Liminality holds flexible meanings: it encompasses the transitional stage of a process, and the act of occupying a position at or on both sides of a boundary or threshold. Reflecting on liminality as a critical discourse, these artists probe places and contexts that are immediate yet deeply personal – embodying and responding to conditions that approximate liminal space through investigative means. Different states of being are examined through the eyes of these artists: between what was once home and what is now home; between disparate temporal and spatial coordinates; between boundaries, borders, or margins; between success and failure; between the visible and the unseen; and between liberation and restraint. By drawing on moments that are overlooked with deep criticality and inquisitive gaze, the artists featured in Exposing Liminalities aim to bridge the gaps between us. Together, the artists carve out a new space for inquiry, where the liminal becomes the limitless.

The artists featured in this exhibition are alumni from Gallery 44’s OUTREACH program, and winners and honourable mentions of the David Barker Maltby Award. All of the work was shot on 35 mm film and developed in Gallery 44’s darkroom and digital printing facilities.

On view
August 11–26, 2018

Opening reception
Saturday, August 11th from 2–4 pm

Gallery hours
Thursday–Sunday from 12-5 pm through August 26th

Location
Critical Distance Centre for Curators
180 Shaw Street, Suite 302 at Artscape Youngplace
Toronto, Ontario M6J 2W5
Google Map

Admission is always free; building and gallery are fully accessible.

About the Curator

Emma German is an emerging curator and writer working between St. Catharines and Toronto. She holds an M.A. in Art History and a Graduate Diploma in Curatorial Studies from York University (2017). Her research explores exhibition spaces as sites of embodied experimentation. Engaging a wide scope of subjects, contexts, and temporalities, she is interested in promoting decelerated modes of perception to stimulate close looking and speculative inquiry around contemporary art. She has held curatorial and administrative positions at Rodman Hall Art Centre, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her research was recently published in the Journal of Curatorial Studies.

About the Artists

Azaeb Adane is an emerging artist specializing in film photography. A 2017 recipient of the David Barker Maltby Award, Adane has had no other formal training in the arts previous to her enrolment in the OUTREACH program. Now with this achievement under her belt, Adane is focused on honing her voice as a first generation Canadian-Ethiopian. Raised in Toronto, her work documents others hailing from the diaspora, and examines juxtapositions around finding a balance between modernity and traditional living, which both have their consequences to the modern native.

Clayton Batson is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist of West Indian descent. He is a recent Graduate of Humber College’s Theatre Performance program (2018). Migrating between performance, photography, and poetry, Clayton’s practice is centered on intimacy and truth. His work seeks to challenge perspective, explore aspects of the self, mental health, sexuality, spirituality and inspire change and acceptance, which he examines with an outside eye looking from within.

Eli Carmona is a Salvadorean-born artist based in Toronto. Their work includes casual/street photography, motion graphics, and graphic design. Their work means to create a relationship between identity and the spaces they navigate as a queer-latine-nonbinary person. They are currently working at The 519 as a Communications Specialist.

Tahoy James is an emerging artist who works with photography, video, and installation. She is motivated by the day to day emotions and moments humans tend to ignore or overlook. Her hope is that her work will cause the viewer to feel happy, emotional and/or slightly uncomfortable.

Ebti Nabag is a visual artist who works with photography, video, and installation. A graduate of the Documentary Media MFA program at Ryerson University, her work is motivated by stories from the average human. Recent exhibitions include Movement in Tradition: Tobe (2016), Vitiligo at the AGO (2015), Intersections (2014) featured at the CONTACT Photography Festival, and I AmNot My Hair (2012). She hopes her documentations serve as bridges between people and communities. A digital and analogue photography instructor, Nabag teams up with galleries and community centers to develop art programs that provide opportunities for creative self-expression and aid in the development of identity. Nabag has served as both a facilitator and instructor for the OUTREACH program in recent years.

About Gallery 44

Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography is a charitable, non-profit, artist-run centre committed to supporting multi-faceted approaches to photography and lens-based media. Founded in 1979 to establish a supportive environment for the development of artistic practice, Gallery 44’s mandate is to provide a context for meaningful reflection and dialogue on contemporary photography.

Critical Distance is pleased to provide free exhibition space and administrative support to emerging artists and curators through our Summer Sessions program. Contact us for more information. 

Image: Eli Carmona, I can see the light, from the series “.~This is home now” (2018). Image courtesy of the artist.