Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present: 

Michèle Pearson Clarke: Quantum Choir

Alanna Fields: Audacity

March 10, 2023 – June 17, 2023 | By appointment only 

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is honoured to present Quantum Choir, a solo exhibition by Michèle Pearson Clarke, alongside Audacity, a solo exhibition by Alanna Fields. The show will be exhibited in our galleries from March 10, 2023 until June 17, 2023.

In gallery one, is a new work by the renowned Toronto-based, Trinidadian artist, writer, and educator, Michèle Pearson Clarke (b. 1973). And in our second gallery, the burgeoning American artist and educator, Alanna Fields (b. 1990) will be presenting a suite of recent works culminating in her first exhibit in the country. This is also the first time both artists are being brought into proximity in an exhibition context. Among the variable concerns they take up, at their root, both artists’ works are invariably engaged in black and queer subjectivities through expanded photo-adjacent practices. This intergenerational pair approaches photographic explorations from a historical outlook (Fields) as well as queer expression in contemporary life today (Clarke). Clarke, who is a seasoned photo artist and filmmaker, has expanded her repertoire within the medium over the years, and this exhibition takes that further. For the first time, Clarke’s work has spatially transformed the exhibition space with objects, painted walls, and a built architectural apparatus for an enveloping four-channel video. As with her ongoing commitment to creating an encouraging space for grief, vulnerability, and the attendant unease, this new exhibition titled Quantum Choir, makes such states of vulnerability not only possible but welcomed in a tender collective embrace. The artist brings together a choir of four including herself–all masculine presenting women–to confront their fears, ingrained shame, and insecurity around their singing voice. Through their solidarity, they uphold a padded landing for each other's vulnerability. 

Fields on the other hand is a student of queer history. She enlivens intimate traces of Black queer lives from found vernacular photographs predominately taken between the 60s and 90s. Through her dignifying attention, she awakens a different consciousness of a past often narrowly narrated by the burdens of societal marginalization, stigmatization, and hard-fought battles for equal rights. Under the title, Audacity, Fields’ exhibition focuses on body language, gestures, and sartorial elegance that characterizes the Black queer lives who transcended the recessive demands of heteronormative hegemony. Fields' photographs are illustrative, painterly and tactile. On their surfaces, the artist delicately layers with wax, glitter, and colour bands, affording the found photographs—the spirited lives and histories they testify—an activated life in the present. 

Clarke and Fields’ work is grounded in a sustained archival practice. While Fields tasks herself with extensive searches into the past, Clarke accumulates hers as a result of living into the future. Fields finds queer affinity and kinship through her inquiries in reversed time. And Clarke shows us the fruits of leaning on that very kinship as she moves through the world. Together, they emphasize archival practice as a social necessity, keeping alive an ever-unfolding intricate tapestry of queer history across generations. 

Michèle Pearson Clarke’s work has been included in exhibitions and screenings at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Royal Ontario Museum, Lagos Photo Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Maryland Institute College of Art, ltd los angeles, Ryerson Image Centre, and Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography. From 2016-2017, Clarke was artist-in-residence at Gallery 44, and she was the inaugural 2020-2021 artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto’s Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. Clarke’s writing has been published in Canadian Art, TransitionMagazine, Momus, and The Toronto Star and in 2018, she was a speaker at the eighth TEDxPortofSpain. Most recently, Clarke served as the second Photo Laureate for the City of Toronto (2019-2022), and her work was added to the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Clarke holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto, and in 2015 she received her Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), where she is an Assistant Professor in Photography in the School of Image Arts.

Alanna Fields’ work has been exhibited at The High Museum of Art, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, MoCADA, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Baxter St. CCNY, Expo Chicago, Felix Art Fair in LA, and UNTITLED Art Fair in Miami. Fields is a Gordon Parks Foundation Scholar and has participated in residencies at Silver Arts Projects, Light Work, Baxter St. CCNY, and Gallery Aferro. She received her MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute and is a Lecturer of Photography at Howard University. Fields has given artist talks at the Aperture Foundation, Light Work, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Parson's New School, Syracuse University, and Stanford University. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Aperture Magazine, FOAM Magazine, and The Atlantic amongst others. Fields lives and works between Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Opening Hours and Procedures

Quantum Choir, the work of Michèle Pearson Clarke, as well as, Audacity, the work of Alanna Fields is available by appointment from March 10, 2023 to June 17, 2023.

To celebrate the opening of the exhibition please join us on Friday, March 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm for an opening reception and Saturday, March 11, at 1 pm for an artist talk with both Michèle Pearson Clarke and Alanna Fields.

Appointments are available during gallery hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 12 - 6 pm; Thursday 12 - 8 pm; and Saturday 12 - 5 pm. 

Please book through our online booking system, email info@plugin.org or call 204-942-1043 to make your appointment today. 

For more information on Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, please visit our website here.

Please note, our online shop is open and curbside pickup is available.

Acknowledgments

We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the National homeland of the Red River Métis. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.

Quantum Choir was originally commissioned by the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Caitlin Thomas-Dunn at caitlin@plugin.org.

For more information about our programming, contact Luther Konadu at luther@plugin.org

For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043