Join us for The People United, an exhibition curated by Tamara Toledo.
Through the work of the Beehive Collective, Colectivo LASTESIS, Carlos Colín, Cristian Ordóñez, and Syrus Marcus Ware, The People United dares to reflect on the power of people who follow a path of transformation towards a different outcome.
The Beehive Collective marks the history of colonization and capitalism throughout Mesoamerica, celebrating social movements that resist neoliberalism and extractivist developmentalist projects and collective action during times of climate change. Colectivo LASTESIS share their anti-patriarchal message through public interventions as their performances evolve into viral forms of protest worldwide. Carlos Colín offers the individual an opportunity to multiply and spread voices of solidarity, with the message that the power lies within the collective. Cristian Ordóñez captures images of combative youth underlining their courage and resilience, as well as their organizational capacity to change the course of Chilean history. And finally, Syrus Marcus Ware offers a space of hope as he imagines the collapse of capitalism, and a not too far away future where social restructuring is based on care, acknowledgement, respect, and relations.
The exhibition renders struggle and hope. It offers moments of resurgence, contestation, and emancipation, but most importantly acknowledges the power that lies within people, as well as a vision of what our collective future could be.
View The People United's accompanying booklet with an essay by Tamara Toledo here.
View the interpretive Guide for All Ages created to accompany The People United here.
THE BEEHIVE COLLECTIVE is an all-volunteer, activist art collective, motivated, and dedicated to “cross-pollinating the grassroots” by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images as educational and organizational tools. They work anonymously as word-to-image translators of complex global stories, gathered through conversations with affected communities. Since 2000, they have disseminated more than 150,000 posters throughout the Americas, entirely by grassroots, hand-to-hand distribution. Their graphics have tackled issues from globalization, trade, and resource extraction, to energy, biotechnology, and climate change. They strive to create holistic and accessible images that inspire critical reflection and strategic action.
COLECTIVO LASTESIS is an interdisciplinary feminist collective from Valparaíso, Chile, founded by Daffne Valdés Vargas, Paula Cometa Stange, Lea Cáceres Díaz, and Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem. The collective is dedicated to spreading feminist theses and demands through public performance. They have published several books, such as: Antología Feminista (Debate, 2021); Quemar el miedo (Planeta, 2021); and About Wild Capitalism & its Patriarchal Performance in Our Lives (En Why Theatre? Golden Book, NTGent, 2020); among others. They have received multiple awards including the Jaime Castillo Velasco Award from the Chilean Human Rights Commission (2020) and The TIME100: Most Influential People 2020, among others.
CARLOS COLÍN is an artist and PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia. He is represented by Fazakas Gallery in Vancouver and his work has been exhibited in venues such as the BIENALSUR 2021; AWA Cultura in Caracas, Venezuela; Aramauca Contemporary Art Platform in Chiapas, Mexico; The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbostford; Grunt Gallery in Vancouver; Sur Gallery in Toronto; Galería de la Raza in San Francisco; and Rufino Tamayo Museum, Mexico City; among others. Colín was awarded the 2016 Emerging Artist, Mayor’s Arts Awards for the City of Vancouver in Visual Arts, and the 2017 Artist Studio Award Program.
CRISTIAN ORDÓÑEZ is a Chilean photographer based in Toronto. Ordóñez has exhibited his work in group and solo exhibitions in Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, Russia, Greece, the United States, and Netherlands and has participated in various art fairs in Santiago, Toronto, and Vancouver. Using the medium of photography he collects impressions of the world, gravitating towards the parallels between ideas, memory, and belonging. His work has been collected by the National Gallery of Canada, Library & Archives, the National Library of Australia, the State Library of Victoria in Australia, and the San Telmo Museum in Spain.
SYRUS MARCUS WARE is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator, and educator. His work has been shown at Toronto Biennial of Art (2019, 2022); Art Gallery of Ontario; University of Lethbridge Art Gallery; Art Gallery of York University; among others. His performance works have been part of festivals across Canada. Ware is part of the PDA (Performance Disability Art) Collective and co-programmed Crip Your World: An Intergalactic Queer/POC Sick and Disabled Extravaganza as part of Mayworks 2014. Ware earned his PhD at York University and is currently the Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University.
TAMARA TOLEDO is a curator, writer, and artist, co-founder of Latin American Canadian Art Projects. Her research focuses on Latin American diasporic art in Canada shaped by violence, trauma, and displacement, following decolonial practices that defy hegemonic tendencies within contemporary art. Toledo has presented at various conferences in Montreal, New York, Vancouver, Chicago, Mexico City, and Toronto. She has contributed essays to ARM Journal, C Magazine, Fuse, Canadian Art, and Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture Journal of the University of California. Toledo is currently the Director/Curator of Sur Gallery and a PhD candidate in Art History and Visual Culture.
Join us for a series of ancillary programs presented in support of The People United.
Friday, February 10, 2023, 7-9 pm | Opening Reception and Curator's Walkthrough with Tamara Toledo. Presented part of our Winter 2023 launch party.
Saturday April 8, 2023, 10 am | Mesoamerica Resiste! Workshop with the Beehive Collective.
Saturday, April 8, 2023, 1 pm | Second Saturday Family Workshop with the Beehive Collective.
Thursday, April 13th, 6:30 pm (Virtual) | Feminist and Political Collage: Interdisciplinary Strategies for Performance Workshop with Colectivo LASTESIS.
WAHC wishes to acknowledge the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Hamilton, the Province of Ontario, CUPE National, the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, the Canada Council for the Arts and OSSTF for their support of our exhibitions and ancillary programs.
For more information, please contact Tara Bursey, Executive Director, at (905) 522-3003 ex. 23 or tara@wahc-museum.ca
