Erika DeFreitas
Co-presented by the Images Festival
April 7 – 28, 2018
RESIDENCY DATES
January to March, 2018
OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, April 7 at 7PM*
* There will be a FREE shuttle bus departing the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto at 7PM for the opening reception. For more details and to reserve your spot on the bus, visit erika-defreitas-bus.eventbrite.ca
This exhibition is about these objects and bodies. These objects of character and marrow and bodies of her. In multiples. Of finger tips and overgrown cuticles. I suppose. A draft of a draft of how to think about what is there and what is there and not. A language for translating a pause in gesture and what history punctures and movement punctuates.
There is just so much space for these objects that sit and watch before directing. The slipping of peony petals between fingers and open wounds. All lining the mouth as a spectre. A spectre of gesture. A recital. A rewriting of scores inherited from the hands that tended gardens and those that fell limp upon rendering. Intrusions and auras. Perhaps this exhibition is about these objects and bodies.
to prepare for a longing, an itch comprises collage, video, and photography as a point of departure for exploring the artist’s interests in collecting and archiving as a means of understanding postmemory, hauntology, and the enduring presence of loss.
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to prepare for a longing, an itch is co-presented by the Images Festival, April 12 – 20, 2018.For more information visit imagesfestival.com. This exhibition was made possible with support from the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.
Gallery hours for the exhibition will be Fri-Sat 12-5PM or by appointment.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Saturday, April 28 from 1-4PM
Join us on the final day of to prepare for a longing, an itch for a discussion of the themes surrounding the exhibition, featuring artist Erika DeFreitas in conversation with Francisco-Fernando Granados, Ricky Varghese and Fan Wu.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Erika DeFreitas is a Scarborough-based multidisciplinary conceptual artist. Placing an emphasis on process, gesture and documentation, her work explores the influence of language, loss and culture on the formation of identity, with the use of textile-based works, and performative actions, which are photographed. Her work has been exhibited in venues such as Project Row Houses (Houston), Gallery 44 (Toronto), Angell Gallery (Toronto), Pollock Gallery (Dallas), Platform Centre for Photographic & Digital Arts (Winnipeg) and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. Longlisted for the 2017 Sobey Art Award, a recipient of the Toronto Friends of Visual Arts’ 2016 Finalist Artist Prize and the 2016 John Hartman Award, DeFreitas holds a Master of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto.