Brother Armand Lammineur was a Roman Catholic missionary who travelled from Belgium to the Philippines, photographing extensively from the late 1930s until his death in the early 2000s. Many of his photographs were taken in or near the mountainous city of Baguio, where a seminary called “Home Sweet Home” housed Belgian priests on mission. Baguio is also the birthplace of artist Rydel Cerezo.

Cerezo would discover Lammineur’s photographs of Baguio decades later, in Belgium, as he happened to be dating a member of Lammineur’s extended family. He would go on to learn that members of his own family knew the priest. Intersecting across time and place, these coincidences undergird a cross-cultural archive, one that encompasses both photographers: Lammineur as a visitor to the Philippines; and Cerezo as a guest in Belgium, also working at home in community with fellow queer Filipinx-Canadians. The two photographers’ depictions of Filipinx bodies exist at once in tension and in dialogue, variously contradicting and echoing each other.

Filipinx subjects are central figures in this exhibition, seen from different vantages: through Lammineur’s camera, as seminarians to be indoctrinated; in Cerezo’s lens, as intimate friends and collaborators; from Cerezo’s first-person perspective, as a queer Filipinx person questioning the ethics of archive creation, and its capacity to convey the nuances of lived, diasporic experience. Across original photographs and vintage images collaged with found material, Cerezo’s autobiographical new work is a profound meditation on home, compassion, and belonging.

Rydel Cerezo (b. 1996, Baguio, Philippines) is a visual artist who lives and works in Vancouver. Cerezo’s work investigates the spaces between sexuality, religion, and race. They are interested in how these disparate themes metaphorically and visually coalesce. Cerezo was shortlisted for Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize (2020) and longlisted for the Sobey Art Award (2022).

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

Come get festive and shop local at The Polygon Gallery’s Holiday Shop. An annual tradition, the gallery’s main floor will be beautifully decorated and carefully curated with unique gifts by independent makers and artists.

Returning this year is Little Mountain Shop’s Holiday Pop-Up, which features an all-Canadian lineup of mostly local, women-led, BIPOC makers and creatives. With dozens of vendors, this Pop-Up is the go-to destination for sustainably minded products by sought-after makers this holiday season.

Meet the Maker events take place every weekend from 11am-4pm. These weekly socials will highlight a local guest vendor, and customers will be able to enjoy demos, a photobooth, and the festive atmosphere before taking in what’s on view in the Gallery.

Two striking exhibitions will be on view at The Polygon throughout the Holidays as well: Home Sweet Home, a solo exhibition by Vancouver artist Rydel Cerezo (on now until Jan 9), and The Lind Prize 2022, The Gallery’s annual showcase of vital emerging artists from across the province (opening Dec 10).

MEET THE MAKERS EVENT SCHEDULE

Nov 19 20 – Hello Aura
Personalized polaroids of your aura to help you better understand the energy you are sharing with the world.
www.helloauraphoto.com

Nov 26 – Elliott Slinn
After a brief consult, poet Elliott Slinn will compose a custom poem for you.
@elliott_slinn

Nov 27 – Sita Fine Jewelry
Elegant gold bracelets, permanently fused on your wrist in store.
www.sitafinejewelry.com

Dec 3 – Spirit of the Season Festival
Mayor Linda Buchanan, along with Santa and Mrs. Claus, officially light the tree in front of The Polygon Gallery.
Find out more

Dec 4 – Amara Blue
Personalized charms for bracelets and necklaces.
www.amarabluedesigns.com

Dec 10 – Perennial Gatherings & Neets
Beautiful, unique holiday arrangements complemented by an illustrated original artwork, so that you can take home something for now, and something forever.
www.perennialgatherings.com

Dec 11 – Neets
Custom gift wrapping using traditional Japanese furoshiki fabric.
www.anitacheung.ca

Dec 17 – LeLe Chan
Exquisite custom calligraphy works by artist LeLe Chan.
www.lelechan.com

Dec 18 – LOA
Sample their latest skin elixirs and products.
www.loaskin.com

LITTLE MOUNTAIN SHOP HOLIDAY POP-UP VENDORS

ARALEA BEAUTY – www.araleabeauty.com
Bobo – @theboboshop
Copper Canoe Woman – www.coppercanoewoman.com
East 29th – www.east29th.com
Flax Home – www.shopflaxhome.com
Homecoming – www.homecomingcandles.com
Kaaj – www.kaajchocolate.com
Kunye – www.kunye.co
LOA Skin – www.loaskin.com
Lovers Tempo – www.loverstempo.com
Lydia Cecilia – www.lydiacecilia.art
Midnight Paloma – www.midnightpaloma.com
Paige Jung – www.paigejung.com
Paper Label – www.paperlabel.ca
Pink Tea Latte – www.pinktealatte.ca
Quw’utsun’ Made – www.quwutsunmade.com
The Acorn – www.theacornrestaurant.ca
The Nest – @izziessentials
Woash – www.woashwellness.com
Womankynd – www.womankynd.ca
Yellow Dreamsand – www.yellowdreamsand.com

More TBA!

The Little Mountain Shop Holiday Pop-Up is made possible thanks to key sponsors Local Practice Architecture Design and the North Shore News.

Brother Armand Lammineur was a Roman Catholic missionary who travelled from Belgium to the Philippines, photographing extensively from the late 1930s until his death in the early 2000s. Many of his photographs were taken in or near the mountainous city of Baguio, where a seminary called “Home Sweet Home” housed Belgian priests on mission. Baguio is also the birthplace of artist Rydel Cerezo.

Cerezo would discover Lammineur’s photographs of Baguio decades later, in Belgium, as he happened to be dating a member of Lammineur’s extended family. He would go on to learn that members of his own family knew the priest. Intersecting across time and place, these coincidences undergird a cross-cultural archive, one that encompasses both photographers: Lammineur as a visitor to the Philippines; and Cerezo as a guest in Belgium, also working at home in community with fellow queer Filipinx-Canadians. The two photographers’ depictions of Filipinx bodies exist at once in tension and in dialogue, variously contradicting and echoing each other.

Filipinx subjects are central figures in this exhibition, seen from different vantages: through Lammineur’s camera, as seminarians to be indoctrinated; in Cerezo’s lens, as intimate friends and collaborators; from Cerezo’s first-person perspective, as a queer Filipinx person questioning the ethics of archive creation, and its capacity to convey the nuances of lived, diasporic experience. Across original photographs and vintage images collaged with found material, Cerezo’s autobiographical new work is a profound meditation on home, compassion, and belonging.

Rydel Cerezo (b. 1996, Baguio, Philippines) is a visual artist who lives and works in Vancouver. Cerezo’s work investigates the spaces between sexuality, religion, and race. They are interested in how these disparate themes metaphorically and visually coalesce. Cerezo was shortlisted for Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize (2020) and longlisted for the Sobey Art Award (2022).

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

Come get festive and shop local at The Polygon Gallery’s Holiday Shop. An annual tradition, the gallery’s main floor will be beautifully decorated and carefully curated with unique gifts by independent makers and artists.

Returning this year is Little Mountain Shop’s Holiday Pop-Up, which features an all-Canadian lineup of mostly local, women-led, BIPOC makers and creatives. With dozens of vendors, this Pop-Up is the go-to destination for sustainably minded products by sought-after makers this holiday season.

Meet the Maker events take place every weekend from 11am-4pm. These weekly socials will highlight a local guest vendor, and customers will be able to enjoy demos, a photobooth, and the festive atmosphere before taking in what’s on view in the Gallery.

Two striking exhibitions will be on view at The Polygon throughout the Holidays as well: Home Sweet Home, a solo exhibition by Vancouver artist Rydel Cerezo (on now until Jan 9), and The Lind Prize 2022, The Gallery’s annual showcase of vital emerging artists from across the province (opening Dec 10).

MEET THE MAKERS EVENT SCHEDULE

Nov 19 20 – Hello Aura
Personalized polaroids of your aura to help you better understand the energy you are sharing with the world.
www.helloauraphoto.com

Nov 26 – Elliott Slinn
After a brief consult, poet Elliott Slinn will compose a custom poem for you.
@elliott_slinn

Nov 27 – Sita Fine Jewelry
Elegant gold bracelets, permanently fused on your wrist in store.
www.sitafinejewelry.com

Dec 3 – Spirit of the Season Festival
Mayor Linda Buchanan, along with Santa and Mrs. Claus, officially light the tree in front of The Polygon Gallery.
Find out more

Dec 4 – Amara Blue
Personalized charms for bracelets and necklaces.
www.amarabluedesigns.com

Dec 10 – Perennial Gatherings & Neets
Beautiful, unique holiday arrangements complemented by an illustrated original artwork, so that you can take home something for now, and something forever.
www.perennialgatherings.com

Dec 11 – Neets
Custom gift wrapping using traditional Japanese furoshiki fabric.
www.anitacheung.ca

Dec 17 – LeLe Chan
Exquisite custom calligraphy works by artist LeLe Chan.
www.lelechan.com

Dec 18 – LOA
Sample their latest skin elixirs and products.
www.loaskin.com

LITTLE MOUNTAIN SHOP HOLIDAY POP-UP VENDORS

ARALEA BEAUTY – www.araleabeauty.com
Bobo – @theboboshop
Copper Canoe Woman – www.coppercanoewoman.com
East 29th – www.east29th.com
Flax Home – www.shopflaxhome.com
Homecoming – www.homecomingcandles.com
Kaaj – www.kaajchocolate.com
Kunye – www.kunye.co
LOA Skin – www.loaskin.com
Lovers Tempo – www.loverstempo.com
Lydia Cecilia – www.lydiacecilia.art
Midnight Paloma – www.midnightpaloma.com
Paige Jung – www.paigejung.com
Paper Label – www.paperlabel.ca
Pink Tea Latte – www.pinktealatte.ca
Quw’utsun’ Made – www.quwutsunmade.com
The Acorn – www.theacornrestaurant.ca
The Nest – @izziessentials
Woash – www.woashwellness.com
Womankynd – www.womankynd.ca
Yellow Dreamsand – www.yellowdreamsand.com

More TBA!

The Little Mountain Shop Holiday Pop-Up is made possible thanks to key sponsors Local Practice Architecture Design and the North Shore News.

A showcase of work by the finalists of the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize. Established in 2016, the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize is awarded annually to an emerging BC-based artist working in mediums of film, photography, or video. Artists are nominated for the prize by staff and faculty from established arts institutions, organisations, and post-secondary programs from across the province.

This year’s finalists were selected from more than 50 nominations and include: Simranpreet Anand, Wei Chen, Sidney Gordon, Natasha Katedralis, Jake Kimble, Aaron Leon, and Katayoon Yousefbigloo.

The Polygon is grateful for the work of this year’s jury, which features Emmy Lee Wall, Executive Director of the Capture Photography Festival; Richard Hill, The Smith Jarislowsky senior curator of Canadian art at the Vancouver Art Gallery; and Samuel Roy Bois, artist and Associate Professor in Creative Studies at The University of British Columbia, Okanagan.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on January 26. Previous Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize winners include Charlotte Zhang (2021), Laura Gildner (2020), Jessica Johnson (2019), Christopher Lacroix (2018), Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes (2017), Vilhelm Sundin (2016).

The Opening Celebration takes place on Thursday, December 15.
The winner of The Lind Prize will be announced at the Closing Celebration on Thursday, January 26.

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

Kids First is an opportunity for families of all kinds to create an in-house art project, based on the exhibitions being shown in the Gallery. The projects are geared towards children ranging in age from 5 to 12 years old, though there is no age requirement to participate. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Admission is by donation. Always free for members.

The activity on Sunday, December 11 is inspired by our winter exhibition The Lind Prize 2022.

Sessions take place at 10:15, 11:15, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00.

Advance registration is appreciated. Walk-ins are always welcome at Kids First.

Join us on Thursday, December 15 for an opening celebration for The Lind Prize 2022. RSVP at https://thepolygon.ca/

Remarks at 7:30pm

Music by Niña Mendoza

The Lind Prize 2022 is on view at The Polygon December 10 – January 29.

The winner of this year’s Lind Prize will be announced at the Closing Celebration on Thursday, January 26.

About the Exhibition
A showcase of work by the finalists of the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize. Established in 2016, the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize is awarded annually to an emerging BC-based artist working in mediums of film, photography, or video. Artists are nominated for the prize by staff and faculty from established arts institutions, organisations, and post-secondary programs from across the province.

This year’s finalists were selected from more than 50 nominations and include: Simranpreet Anand, Wei Chen, Sidney Gordon, Natasha Katedralis, Jake Kimble, Aaron Leon, and Katayoon Yousefbigloo.

Image: Aaron Leon, 7⟨ʔ⟩: Reciprocity Values, video still, 2021

A showcase of work by the finalists of the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize. Established in 2016, the Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize is awarded annually to an emerging BC-based artist working in mediums of film, photography, or video. Artists are nominated for the prize by staff and faculty from established arts institutions, organisations, and post-secondary programs from across the province.

This year’s finalists were selected from more than 50 nominations and include: Simranpreet Anand, Wei Chen, Sidney Gordon, Natasha Katedralis, Jake Kimble, Aaron Leon, and Katayoon Yousefbigloo.

The Polygon is grateful for the work of this year’s jury, which features Emmy Lee Wall, Executive Director of the Capture Photography Festival; Richard Hill, The Smith Jarislowsky senior curator of Canadian art at the Vancouver Art Gallery; and Samuel Roy Bois, artist and Associate Professor in Creative Studies at The University of British Columbia, Okanagan.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on January 26. Previous Philip B. Lind Emerging Artist Prize winners include Charlotte Zhang (2021), Laura Gildner (2020), Jessica Johnson (2019), Christopher Lacroix (2018), Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes (2017), Vilhelm Sundin (2016).

The Opening Celebration takes place on Thursday, December 15.
The winner of The Lind Prize will be announced at the Closing Celebration on Thursday, January 26.

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

The ethos of community is at the heart of the collection from which this exhibition is drawn. Established by Dr. Kenneth Montague, the Wedge Collection is Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists. The title As We Rise is borrowed from a phrase that Dr. Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” By this, he emphasized the importance of parlaying one’s personal success into communal good. He believed in investing back in the Black community to which he and his family belonged. As an ethic, “lifting as we rise” suggests an expanded sense of family, one that reaches beyond close relatives. As an exhibition, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this expansive sensibility, centering the familial alongside the familiar.

Familiarity resides not just in the exhibition collectively, but in the photographs unto themselves. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers, presented as they wish to be seen. Largely, these subjects are aware of the camera, and yet they never seem rigid or unnatural. The gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery produced is far from uniform. It is as varied, surprising, and heterogeneous as the Black Atlantic itself. Like a family album, it is idiosyncratic.

The concepts of community, identity, and power intersect and merge, discernable in many of the photographs not as features to be singled out but rather as a recognizable essence; a recognition of the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability, and irreducibility of Black life.

As Liz Ikiriko writes: “The pictures here forefront the experience of Black life, in all its myriad forms: a marker of the histories and spaces (real and ephemeral) that transcend geographic boundaries. . . . The collection extends out to a global diaspora and proclaims, ‘We are home.’”

The Wedge Collection was started in 1997 in Toronto by Dr. Kenneth Montague to acquire and exhibit art that explores Black identity. Montague also founded Wedge Curatorial Projects, a nonprofit arts organization that supports emerging Black artists.

Featuring work by: Raphael Albert, Henry Clay Anderson, Tayo Yannick Anton, Liz Johnson Artur, James Barnor, Dawoud Bey, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Deanna Bowen, Jody Brand, Kwame Brathwaite, Sandra Brewster, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Vanley Burke, Mohamed Camara, Kennedi Carter, Jorian Charlton, June Clark, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Renee Cox, Erika DeFreitas, Jabulani Dhlamini, Stan Douglas, Louis Draper, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Samuel Fosso, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Courtney D. Garvin, Jérôme Havre, Barkley L. Hendricks, Leslie Hewitt, Ayana V. Jackson, Rashid Johnson, Aaron Jones, Anique Jordan, Seydou Keïta, Lebohang Kganye, Luther Konadu, Deana Lawson, Zun Lee, Oumar Ly, João Mendes, Jalani Morgan, Dennis Morris, Aïda Muluneh, Eustáquio Neves, Jamal Nxedlana, Lakin Ogunbanwo, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Bidemi Oloyede, Horace Ové, Gordon Parks, Dawit L. Petros, Charlie Phillips, Afonso Pimenta, Ruddy Roye, Athi-Patra Ruga, Abdourahmane Sakaly, Jamel Shabazz, Abdo Shanan, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Ming Smith, Paul Anthony Smith, Sanlé Sory, Eve Tagny, Texas Isaiah, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Nontsikelelo Veleko, Ruby Washington, Ricky Weaver, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley.

The texts in this exhibition are adapted from the book As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021).

Banner image: Samuel Fosso, ’70s Lifestyle (detail), 1975–78. © Samuel Fosso, courtesy JM.PATRAS/PARIS.

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

The ethos of community is at the heart of the collection from which this exhibition is drawn. Established by Dr. Kenneth Montague, the Wedge Collection is Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists. The title As We Rise is borrowed from a phrase that Dr. Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” By this, he emphasized the importance of parlaying one’s personal success into communal good. He believed in investing back in the Black community to which he and his family belonged. As an ethic, “lifting as we rise” suggests an expanded sense of family, one that reaches beyond close relatives. As an exhibition, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this expansive sensibility, centering the familial alongside the familiar.

Familiarity resides not just in the exhibition collectively, but in the photographs unto themselves. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers, presented as they wish to be seen. Largely, these subjects are aware of the camera, and yet they never seem rigid or unnatural. The gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery produced is far from uniform. It is as varied, surprising, and heterogeneous as the Black Atlantic itself. Like a family album, it is idiosyncratic.

The concepts of community, identity, and power intersect and merge, discernable in many of the photographs not as features to be singled out but rather as a recognizable essence; a recognition of the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability, and irreducibility of Black life.

As Liz Ikiriko writes: “The pictures here forefront the experience of Black life, in all its myriad forms: a marker of the histories and spaces (real and ephemeral) that transcend geographic boundaries. . . . The collection extends out to a global diaspora and proclaims, ‘We are home.’”

The Wedge Collection was started in 1997 in Toronto by Dr. Kenneth Montague to acquire and exhibit art that explores Black identity. Montague also founded Wedge Curatorial Projects, a nonprofit arts organization that supports emerging Black artists.

Featuring work by: Raphael Albert, Henry Clay Anderson, Tayo Yannick Anton, Liz Johnson Artur, James Barnor, Dawoud Bey, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Deanna Bowen, Jody Brand, Kwame Brathwaite, Sandra Brewster, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Vanley Burke, Mohamed Camara, Kennedi Carter, Jorian Charlton, June Clark, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Renee Cox, Erika DeFreitas, Jabulani Dhlamini, Stan Douglas, Louis Draper, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Samuel Fosso, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Courtney D. Garvin, Jérôme Havre, Barkley L. Hendricks, Leslie Hewitt, Ayana V. Jackson, Rashid Johnson, Aaron Jones, Anique Jordan, Seydou Keïta, Lebohang Kganye, Luther Konadu, Deana Lawson, Zun Lee, Oumar Ly, João Mendes, Jalani Morgan, Dennis Morris, Aïda Muluneh, Eustáquio Neves, Jamal Nxedlana, Lakin Ogunbanwo, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Bidemi Oloyede, Horace Ové, Gordon Parks, Dawit L. Petros, Charlie Phillips, Afonso Pimenta, Ruddy Roye, Athi-Patra Ruga, Abdourahmane Sakaly, Jamel Shabazz, Abdo Shanan, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Ming Smith, Paul Anthony Smith, Sanlé Sory, Eve Tagny, Texas Isaiah, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Nontsikelelo Veleko, Ruby Washington, Ricky Weaver, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley.

The texts in this exhibition are adapted from the book As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic  (Aperture, 2021).

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

The ethos of community is at the heart of the collection from which this exhibition is drawn. Established by Dr. Kenneth Montague, the Wedge Collection is Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists. The title As We Rise is borrowed from a phrase that Dr. Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” By this, he emphasized the importance of parlaying one’s personal success into communal good. He believed in investing back in the Black community to which he and his family belonged. As an ethic, “lifting as we rise” suggests an expanded sense of family, one that reaches beyond close relatives. As an exhibition, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this expansive sensibility, centering the familial alongside the familiar.

Familiarity resides not just in the exhibition collectively, but in the photographs unto themselves. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers, presented as they wish to be seen. Largely, these subjects are aware of the camera, and yet they never seem rigid or unnatural. The gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery produced is far from uniform. It is as varied, surprising, and heterogeneous as the Black Atlantic itself. Like a family album, it is idiosyncratic.

The concepts of community, identity, and power intersect and merge, discernable in many of the photographs not as features to be singled out but rather as a recognizable essence; a recognition of the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability, and irreducibility of Black life.

As Liz Ikiriko writes: “The pictures here forefront the experience of Black life, in all its myriad forms: a marker of the histories and spaces (real and ephemeral) that transcend geographic boundaries. . . . The collection extends out to a global diaspora and proclaims, ‘We are home.’”

The Wedge Collection was started in 1997 in Toronto by Dr. Kenneth Montague to acquire and exhibit art that explores Black identity. Montague also founded Wedge Curatorial Projects, a nonprofit arts organization that supports emerging Black artists.

Featuring work by: Raphael Albert, Henry Clay Anderson, Tayo Yannick Anton, Liz Johnson Artur, James Barnor, Dawoud Bey, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Deanna Bowen, Jody Brand, Kwame Brathwaite, Sandra Brewster, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Vanley Burke, Mohamed Camara, Kennedi Carter, Jorian Charlton, June Clark, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Renee Cox, Erika DeFreitas, Jabulani Dhlamini, Stan Douglas, Louis Draper, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Samuel Fosso, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Courtney D. Garvin, Jérôme Havre, Barkley L. Hendricks, Leslie Hewitt, Ayana V. Jackson, Rashid Johnson, Aaron Jones, Anique Jordan, Seydou Keïta, Lebohang Kganye, Luther Konadu, Deana Lawson, Zun Lee, Oumar Ly, João Mendes, Jalani Morgan, Dennis Morris, Aïda Muluneh, Eustáquio Neves, Jamal Nxedlana, Lakin Ogunbanwo, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Bidemi Oloyede, Horace Ové, Gordon Parks, Dawit L. Petros, Charlie Phillips, Afonso Pimenta, Ruddy Roye, Athi-Patra Ruga, Abdourahmane Sakaly, Jamel Shabazz, Abdo Shanan, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Ming Smith, Paul Anthony Smith, Sanlé Sory, Eve Tagny, Texas Isaiah, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Nontsikelelo Veleko, Ruby Washington, Ricky Weaver, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley.

The texts in this exhibition are adapted from the book As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic (Aperture, 2021).

Banner image: Samuel Fosso, ’70s Lifestyle (detail), 1975–78. © Samuel Fosso, courtesy JM.PATRAS/PARIS.

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday and Sunday – 10am to 5pm

The ethos of community is at the heart of the collection from which this exhibition is drawn. Established by Dr. Kenneth Montague, the Wedge Collection is Canada’s largest privately owned collection committed to championing Black artists. The title As We Rise is borrowed from a phrase that Dr. Montague’s father would often invoke: “Lifting as we rise.” By this, he emphasized the importance of parlaying one’s personal success into communal good. He believed in investing back in the Black community to which he and his family belonged. As an ethic, “lifting as we rise” suggests an expanded sense of family, one that reaches beyond close relatives. As an exhibition, As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic embraces this expansive sensibility, centering the familial alongside the familiar.

Familiarity resides not just in the exhibition collectively, but in the photographs unto themselves. Black subjects are depicted by Black photographers, presented as they wish to be seen. Largely, these subjects are aware of the camera, and yet they never seem rigid or unnatural. The gaze is mutual and consensual. But the imagery produced is far from uniform. It is as varied, surprising, and heterogeneous as the Black Atlantic itself. Like a family album, it is idiosyncratic.

The concepts of community, identity, and power intersect and merge, discernable in many of the photographs not as features to be singled out but rather as a recognizable essence; a recognition of the complex strength, beauty, vulnerability, and irreducibility of Black life.

As Liz Ikiriko writes: “The pictures here forefront the experience of Black life, in all its myriad forms: a marker of the histories and spaces (real and ephemeral) that transcend geographic boundaries. . . . The collection extends out to a global diaspora and proclaims, ‘We are home.’”

The Wedge Collection was started in 1997 in Toronto by Dr. Kenneth Montague to acquire and exhibit art that explores Black identity. Montague also founded Wedge Curatorial Projects, a nonprofit arts organization that supports emerging Black artists.

Featuring work by: Raphael Albert, Henry Clay Anderson, Tayo Yannick Anton, Liz Johnson Artur, James Barnor, Dawoud Bey, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Deanna Bowen, Jody Brand, Kwame Brathwaite, Sandra Brewster, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Vanley Burke, Mohamed Camara, Kennedi Carter, Jorian Charlton, June Clark, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Renee Cox, Erika DeFreitas, Jabulani Dhlamini, Stan Douglas, Louis Draper, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Samuel Fosso, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Courtney D. Garvin, Jérôme Havre, Barkley L. Hendricks, Leslie Hewitt, Ayana V. Jackson, Rashid Johnson, Aaron Jones, Anique Jordan, Seydou Keïta, Lebohang Kganye, Luther Konadu, Deana Lawson, Zun Lee, Oumar Ly, João Mendes, Jalani Morgan, Dennis Morris, Aïda Muluneh, Eustáquio Neves, Jamal Nxedlana, Lakin Ogunbanwo, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Bidemi Oloyede, Horace Ové, Gordon Parks, Dawit L. Petros, Charlie Phillips, Afonso Pimenta, Ruddy Roye, Athi-Patra Ruga, Abdourahmane Sakaly, Jamel Shabazz, Abdo Shanan, Malick Sidibé, Xaviera Simmons, Ming Smith, Paul Anthony Smith, Sanlé Sory, Eve Tagny, Texas Isaiah, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Nontsikelelo Veleko, Ruby Washington, Ricky Weaver, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley.

The texts in this exhibition are adapted from the book As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic  (Aperture, 2021).

Polygon Gallery Hours:

Monday and Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday – 10am to 5pm

Thursday – 10am to 8pm

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – 10am to 5pm