Critical Writing Index

Unofficial Ambassadors

by Tessa Liem

Tessa Liem reviews the exibition Rightfully Yours, which ran from November 15th until December 15th at the Justina M. Barnike Gallery at Hart House. The show was a curatorial debut for Tejpal Ajji, and featured the work of 10 local and international artists working within a wide range of media. The show, featuring photography, video, sculpture and installation, exploring what initially appears to be a complex web of issues, unifies as a full body of work, through Tej's thorough direction.

The diverse works, both in content and medium, all enter into a "..discourse about national identity, the disenfranchisement of parts of cultures and the question of who can be a representative or ambassador for a group of people" (Liem 1) Ajji also expresses his interest in the roles that artists adopt by involving themselves in the discourse on poverty, violence and equality. The artists represented in this show demonstrate their abilities to "..bring issues of social justice and equality into the arena of contemporary art and vice versa" (Liem 1)

ITEM 2007.145 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

Camille Turner

Shawna Dempsy

Lorrie Millan

Alicia Fremy

Steven Cohen

Wendy Coburn