Artist Profile Publication - Art Gallery of Mississauga

TALWST
MINIMIZED
HISTORIES:
MARGINALIZATION & UNREST
FEBRUARY 26 – APRIL 12, 2015
1
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The sculptural scale is diminutive, however the topics and concepts are larger than life. In
Minimized Histories: Marginalization and Unrest, Canadian-Trinidadian artist TALWST expands
his Infinity series with miniature dioramas in antique ring boxes to comment on contemporary
events that bring to the fore longstanding issues of racism, oppression and “the other” in
North America and abroad. The AGM is committed to relevant topics and issues which reflect
our time in which to create a civic dialogue and TALWST reminds us of the recent deaths of
Michael Brown and Eric Garner in the USA, the hundreds of missing aboriginal women in Canada,
and missing students in Mexico. TALWST’s appropriations of images from art history and
contemporary insertions of marginalized narratives remind us of the power and importance
of the artist to map and present these concepts.
Thank you to our outstanding Assistant Curator, Kendra Ainsworth for her thoughtful process
in curating this exhibit.
The exhibition is possible with the collaborative support of AGM staff members:
Tina Chu, Sadaf Zuberi, Shellie Zhang, Laura Carusi, and Alexandra Hartstone.
Stuart Keeler
Director | Curator
IMAGE CREDIT
Cover
TALWST, Por qué?, 2014, reclaimed 1950's ring box, model putty, plastic, crushed rock,
gold leaf, Acrylic paint, 3v led light. 3v coin battery. Flag: encaustic and ball point on
gauze. 7.5 x 5 x 5.7 cm. Photo by Todd Duym. Image courtesy of the Artist.
Inside
TALWST, Fridas entry into Iguala (detail), 2015, Reclaimed ring box 1960's, models putty,
plastic, sand, silk, wood, paper, acrylic paint, enamel paint, spray paint. 14 x 6.4x 8.3 cm.
Photo byTodd Duym. Image courtesy of the Artist.
The XIT-RM is sponsored by The RBC Foundation
THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
Engage. Think. Inspire. This phrase opens the dialogue at the AGM. The Gallery connects with the people of
Mississauga through the collection and presentation of relevant works from a range of periods and movements
in Canadian art. Expressing multiple ideas and concepts, this visual art translates into meaningful cultural and
social experiences for all audiences. The AGM employs innovative education, artist projects and other forms of
dialogue to advance critical enquiry and community connection to the visual arts.
Staff:
Stuart Keeler – Director | Curator
Tina Chu – Engagement Officer
Kendra Ainsworth – Assistant Curator
Shellie Zhang – Communications
Sadaf Zuberi – Membership Coordinator | Animateur
Laura Carusi – Volunteer Coordinator | Curatorial Assistant
Alexandra Hartstone – Animateur
Address: Art Gallery of Mississauga, 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON L5B 3C1
Tel: 905-896-5088 Web: Check website for updates. artgalleryofmississauga.com
ISBN 978-1-927595-11-4
15091
CURATORIAL STATEMENT
Inspired by the unflinching scenes of Goya’s Disasters of War etchings, TALWST turns his
meta-referential, pop-culture and art-history laden Infinity series into a searing indictment of
the elision of narratives of people of colour and marginalized communities, particularly of those
raised in protest or activism. Where previously his miniature dioramas in antique ring boxes
featured pop-culture icons Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s cavorting in front of Pontormo’s
Deposition from the Cross, this new body of work sees Frida Kahlo meet Missing 43 protesters
in Mexico as TALWST subverts the bright street scenes of Enser’s Christ’s Entry into Brussels.
Through his work, TALWST forces us to direct intense focus and consideration on the stories of
Michael Brown, Eric Garner, missing and murdered indigenous women, among others, and the
implications of these narratives in our purportedly post-racial, post-colonial world.
In perhaps the most poignant piece in this series, Por qué, the scene of Eric Garner’s1 death on
a sidewalk in New York plays out as his spirit, in the form of a miniature figure lit from within,
floats away in front of a small scale replica of Jasper John’s White Flag. Positioning this scene,
and implicitly the subsequent public outcry – a stain on the page of American race relations –
against both a symbol of patriotism, but also in its whiteness, of surrender, produces in the
viewer a potent mixture of outrage and despair.
By inserting this and other narratives into scenes from the art historical canon, and into the
gallery as something worthy of prolonged looking and emotional response, TALWST is able to
recraft the context of these events, creating an alternative, permanent, and visible history.
Just as Susan Stewart attests in On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the
Souvenir, the Collection, the reduced form of the miniature can, counterintuitively, multiply the
effects of its ideological properties, as it “concentrates upon the single instance and not upon
the abstract rule, but generalized in that instance comes to transcend, to stand for, a spectrum
of other instances,”2 giving an added semiotic weight to these already powerful scenes.
However, the ring- box forms are not without an element of cynicism. While the dioramas are
infused with the gem-like status conferred by their original contents, the containers themselves
are cast-off, disposable, and each scene is ever threatened with the possibility that the box will
be shut, relegating the narrative to obscurity.
We cannot be left without a sense of hope, however, as the time, dedication and nuance that
went into crafting these powerful objects is palpable, and suggests that with enough effort,
the kind of change TALWST alludes to is indeed possible.
Kendra Ainsworth
Assistant Curator
Eric Garner died in Staten Island, New York on July 17, 2014, during the course of an altercation with police. Garner, and unarmed black man,
was placed in a chokehold by police, who were attempting to arrest him. The altercation was captured on video by onlookers. Garner’s last words
were “I can’t breathe.” The New York Medical Examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide. A grand jury failed to indict the officer involved, resulting
in wide-spread protest and outrage.
1
2
Susan Stewart. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. 1992. Duke University Press. Pg 48.
XIT-RM
The XIT-RM is a project space dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging artists in
the GTA and Mississauga region. Artists are selected annually by the gallery’s curatorial
team to exhibit work that honours the mission and mandate of the AGM, with an
emphasis on contemporary art and critical engagement.
Thanks to generous funding provided by the RBC Foundation, each exhibition features
own opening and is accompanied by a published catalogue with a curatorial essay.