Letitia Fraser
This is My Fabric
February 24—June 15, 2024
Woodstock Art Gallery
449 Dundas Street,Woodstock, ON N4S 1C2
October 26—29, 2023
Art Toronto, Portrait Gallery of Canada
Booth #A4
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Online Exhibition opens October 26, 2023
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
This exhibition features portraits by Letitia Fraser that incorporate remnants of fabric, drawing inspiration from the quilting traditions of her family and her community. The knowing intimacy of these portrayals of members of her immediate community celebrate the figures not only as individuals but also renders them as important parts of a shared past.
Her images make visible the intensity, dignity, and fearlessness with which she asserts the vibrant presence and strength of the individuals and their community. Fraser depicts her subjects with warm respect, empathy, and with a sense of their complex interior lives.
A short film by acclaimed film director David Hartman will accompany the exhibition and explore Fraser’s stories, her practice, the people, and places from which she draws inspiration.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Letitia Fraser is an emerging Black female Nova Scotian artist who uses collage, quilting and figurative painting to create portraits of members of her family and of her community. She explores archives, biography, and memory, as well as representation and affiliation. Her work addresses what it means to be from a particular place with a very distinct history and sets out to document, preserve, and make known that collective past.
A recent graduate of NSCAD, Fraser has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Family Patterns, 2022), Zalucky Contemporary (Binding Threads, 2022), and the Chester Art Gallery (Every Chain, 2022) amongst others. Her works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Canada Council, the Wedge Art Collection, and various private collections. In 2022 she was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Johanna Mizgala is one of Canada’s most respected curatorial voices, with an extensive background of exhibitions, cultural programing, and art criticism. She is currently the Curator of the House of Commons and has held senior roles at the Library and Archives Canada, the Portrait Gallery of Canada, and the National Gallery of Canada. This spring she was awarded an independent residency in the Leighton Artists’ Studios at the Banff Centre.
PORTRAIT GALLERY OF CANADA
The Portrait Gallery of Canada is committed to identify, to showcase and to disseminate work by emerging Canadian and Indigenous artists. It seeks out work that pushes multiple narratives and promotes critical thinking about representation and identity. As an institution that cannot avoid the history and legacies of traditional British and European portraiture, and in particular issues related to the intersectionality of class, gender, race, and sexuality, it is critical to create and hold space for artists who engage directly with this complex terrain head on, and to enable meaningful conversations about who we are collectively, and as individuals.
ORGANIZED BY
EXHIBITION SUPPORTERS
FOUNDING PARTNER
