Greater Toronto Art 2021

MoCA’S take on contemporary art

TORONTO | WORDS BY MILES FORRESTER | VISUAL ARTS - Issue 8

Art by Pamila Matharu, Photography Courtesy of MoCA

From September 29, 2021 to January 9, 2022, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Toronto exhibited a survey of diverse artists from around the Greater Toronto Area, working with a plenitude of contemporary or skewed traditional techniques. The exhibit reflected the intersecting identities of the diverse demographics and artists who call Toronto home, especially as the pandemic has put new and ongoing crises in starker relief. In the spirit of solidarity and common-purpose, GTA 2021 represented the city with embroidered (Raina) and projected (Chun) poems, a rusting installation (Siddique), hockey ready-mades (Oluseye), and an excellent documentary about a town’s chrome cow (Anoushahpour, Anoushahpour, & Ferko).

The exhibit was divided into three themes ascending MoCA's three floors:

Mutation

Featuring works which engage with and imagine the changing world, featuring Native Art Department International, Oluseye, Jagdeep Raina, Jennifer Rose Sciarrino, Kara Springer, and Sahar Te.

Art by Kareem-Anthony Ferreira, Photography Courtesy of MoCA

Inheritance

Featuring works which reckon with memory and the intersection of the personal and the cultural. Participating artists include: Nour Bishouty, Jesse Chun, Julia Dault, Azza El Siddique, Kareem-Anthony Ferreira, Alexa Hatanaka & Ashoona Ashoona, and Pamila Matharu.

Art by Walter Scott & Julia Dault, Photography Courtesy of MoCA

Ambivalence

Featuring works which evade easy answers in an unsteady moment; artists include: Common Accounts, Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Tom Chung, Julia Dault, Aaron Jones, and Walter Scott.