2020 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SHELLEY PETERSON STUDENT ART EXHIBITION: A MEETING PLACE FOR STUDENT ARTISTS

Heritage Moments | Carly Wolowich and Muskoka Dittmar-McCallum

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The University of Toronto Shelley Peterson Student Art Exhibition (SPSAE) is a space for exchange. An annual exhibition which celebrates the artistic excellence of University of Toronto’s tri-campus undergraduate Visual Studies students, the 2020 SPSAE offers a meeting place for students to voice ideas through their diverse artistic practice.

Originally founded by the University of Toronto’s 32nd Chancellor, David Peterson, the exhibition was an opportunity to support and exhibit the works of student artists at the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus. The exhibition—named for Shelley Peterson, an artist, author, performer, businesswoman, and the spouse of David Peterson—has continued after Petersons’ retirement, evolving from an intimate event hosted in the Chancellor’s Office at Convocation Hall to a gallery-based exhibition at the Art Museum. As curators for this year’s exhibition, our aim is to not only honour Peterson’s legacy but also cultivate new approaches to exhibiting student art.

An inquiry into contemporary art forms, the exhibition brings together works by Jasaña Alleyne, Meech Boakye, Chantel Briana Campbell, Jasmine Canaviri, Regina Caeli Dela Cruz, Gian Lorenzo Giannone, Yara Matta, Sean Morello, Liam Mullen, Purvi Qadri, sameda, Beenish Shahab, Isabella Varrasso, Jessica Velasco, Zi Yan Bai, Lana Yuan, and Agnes Zeng. The 2020 SPSAE offers nuanced reflections on contemporary issues both locally and globally. Texts, images, and stories have been transformed by these artists into installations and interventions that address themes of identity, cultural belonging, and displacement. All the artists offer gestures of questioning, of exploration, and of disturbance, inviting viewers to question the space they occupy. The exhibition abandons the traditional role of the spectator, as visitors are greeted with a multi-sensory experience and encouraged to participate with the art.

Beenish Shahab, They All Look Alike, 2019. 18x24. One of Four Photo Paper Prints. Image Courtesy of the Artist. 

Artist Beenish Shahab, a Pakistani-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, currently studying at the University of Toronto Scarborough, innovatively challenges racial stereotypes in They All Look Alike. Working with the concept of identity, challenging Western ideologies with her perspectives and experiences of South Asian culture, Shahab draws inspiration from artists like Shirin Neshat and Maria Qamar. In her sculptural photography-based project, the artist physically weaves together images of two people from the same race. Shahab’s work “examines cross-race effect, where members of one race might metaphorically perceive that members of another race all look alike” by photographing eight students from the University of Toronto who have experienced the effects of the cross-race phenomenon. 

Jessica Velasco, Statements, 2019-Ongoing. 180x120. Ink on Paper. Image Courtesy of the Artist. 

Statements, is an ongoing series by Jessica Velasco, a student from the University of Toronto Mississauga campus. Velasco notes, “being mixed race or interethnic often invites micro transgressional racism. These comments are just “subtle” enough that most who offend don’t even realize that they are doing it”. ​Statements​ explores the racist micro-transgressions that the artist has experienced throughout their life to visually assert the absurdity of “subtle racism” and just how often it occurs in today’s society, even to white-representing interethnic people. Velasco will activate this work with a performance piece, Hindi ako nagsasalita ng Tagalog, on the opening night of the exhibition.

Liam Mullen, Flat, 2019. Installation. Image Courtesy of the Artist. 

An artist and student from the University of Toronto St. George campus, Liam Mullen, experiments with photography and personal narrative. Flat​, looks to compress original pictures to create an aura-less image by way of creating a reproduced reality in a repeated pattern that obscures narrative offers an insight into the tragedy of reproduction as a means of stripping away detail in a picture. Flat is a twenty-first century reply to the writings of cultural theorist Walter Benjamin. The installation is composed of heirloom negatives, an Epson printer, and 8 ½ by 11’’ printer paper. Mullen’s work is often accompanied with a documentary video which records his installation process.

The above works are only three of the seventeen works activated in the University of Toronto Art Centre. The exhibition displays a variety of media, including; photography, works on canvas, kinetic sculpture, film, participatory art, performance art and more. Works are displayed unconventionally as they are installed on the floor, hung from the ceiling, and camouflaged into the architecture of the gallery space. Collectively, the artworks on display present current representations of contemporary art practice from across Toronto.

The University of Toronto Shelley Peterson Student Art Exhibition is projected to open April 16th and run until May 17th 2020. Due to the national response to COVID-19, the exhibition reception and opening date may change. Please consult Art Museum’s website for current information.