Personal Geographies: Shiemara Hogarth (March 4 - April 22, 2023)

March 4 - April 22, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 9 from 6-8pm
Craft Ontario Gallery, 1106 Queen Street West, Toronto

"'Personal Geographies' is a mixed media installation that takes a holistic approach to interrogate the ability of traditional craft, with digital design and fabrication to dissect dialectical discourse. Comprised of embroidery and 3D fabrication, braiding, jacquard damask brocade weaving, and quilted digitally printed 1800s fabric reproductions, the works included in this exhibition offer a critique of the legacies of colonization that continue through the movement of a body. I deconstruct my understanding of the changes and continuity of self through the idea of ‘migrant’ and engage in a broader discourse on what informs ideas of identity and belonging.

The works speak to each other of the multiplicity of truths embedded in the conceptual and material knowledge of my Black diasporic immigrant experience through objects that aim to renegotiate my relationship between multiple colonized spaces. The pieces in this work deconstruct the meanings behind the Jamaican bandana cloth – a reclaimed symbol of post-slavery pride and distinction; uses the body as a vehicle for reimagining and re-inscribing spaces of belonging outside of conflicted existing geographies; and uses weaving as a reflexive conversation between the maker and the object about these themes of colonialism, migration and belonging.

These objects do not aim to solve questions of the colonial project. They, instead, bear material witnesses to how a diasporic body can reimagine their place in the world beyond what official ‘multicultural’ narratives may tell. Overall, this exhibition invites the viewer to consider the material and theoretical connections that locate a body between multiple colonial spaces, including the wider space within which this visual conversation takes place."

– Shiemara Hogarth

Born in Jamaica, Shiemara Hogarth received an Honours Double Major BA in History, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies from York University, then a BDes in Material Art and Design from OCAD University, followed by an MFA in Craft Media from the Alberta University of the Arts. Trained as a historian and textile artist and designer, 3D fabrication has come into her work, and her exploration of narrative and critique through material adaptation and deconstruction engages multi-disciplinary material research as a method of production. She has organized and hosted the symposium 'Canadian Women in Craft: A Conversation,' and curated the exhibition 'Threading Black' with the Alberta Craft Council. She has also had her writing featured in Studio Magazine.

Currently based in Brampton, Ontario, she was awarded a 2021 Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship which enabled her to produce 'Personal Geographies.'

shiemarahogarth.studio

Craft Ontario exhibitions are supported by the Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.