LEFT: Crop of Danika Kimberly So’s Nipple Ring (2017). Image courtesy of the artist.
RIGHT: Documentation of Stephanie Wu’s meditate in a pool with my demons (2016). Image courtesy of the artist.
February 4-14, 2017
Featuring work by Stephanie Wu & Danika Kimberly So
Curated by Belinda Ho-Yan Kwan
EVENTS
Opening Reception // Sat, Feb 4 from 2-5PM
Creative Journaling Workshop // Mon, Feb 6 from 5-8PM
Artist-to-Artist Conversation // Sat, Feb 11 from 12-2PM
Neighbourhood Scavenger Hunt // Sat, Feb 11 from 2-4PM
Closing Reception // Tues, Feb 14 from 7-10PM
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Beyond this Promised Land presents the work of Stephanie Wu and Danika Kimberly So, two queer-identifying Asian artists from the suburban neighbourhoods of Markham and Scarborough. As first-generation Chinese-Canadians, So and Wu refuse the cookie-cutter expectations placed on them by heteronormative immigrant dreams. Instead, their works re-inscribe the contemporary right-wing conservatism of the suburbs into imaginative and heterogeneous places by conducting physical and visual interventions into mundane motifs of everyday life in the ‘burbs.
The exhibition seeks to make space and time for queer first generation Chinese-Canadian folx from Toronto and GTA suburbs, and open up possibilities of queered East Asian expression and kinship on the fringes of the city. However, by focusing on the specific and detailed stories of two distinct artists, it also gestures beyond given categories (such as urban, Asian, Chinese, queer) to the manifold processes of individuation uncontainable by taxonomy.
Through a focus on kinship and self-expression, the space seeks to invite intersectional place-making in response to the artists’ photo prints and sculptural interventions. Several public workshops and events will activate the space, and the installation will include a mini-library for public reading, with books and zines on suburbia, queer kinship, and Chinese-Canadian identity.
Exhibition Publication (Download PDF)
Y+ contemporary strives to keep the gallery accessible to visitors. If you require any accommodations, please contact us at info@ypluscontemporary.com.
Funding for Exhibitions+ programming has been provided by the City of Toronto through Toronto Arts Council and ArtReach Toronto.
