Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present:

Quantum Choir & Audacity

A solo exhibition by Michèle Pearson Clarke & A solo exhibition by Alanna Fields

March 10 , 2023 – June 17, 2023

Opening | Friday, March 10, 2023, 6 – 9pm

Artist talks | Saturday, March 11, 2023, 1 – 3pm, Club 200, 190 Garry St.

Plug In ICA is thrilled to invite you to the opening receptions of Quantum Choir, a solo exhibition featuring Michèle Pearson Clarke, and Audacity, a solo exhibition featuring Alanna Fields. Both exhibitions will take place in our galleries 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 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm for artist talks with both Michèle Pearson Clarke and Alanna Fields.

Both artist talks will be taking place offsite at Club 200, 190 Garry St.

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. 

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.

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 Nations.

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.

This exhibition is presented with the collaboration of 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 at caitlin@plugin.org

For more information on public programming and exhibitions contact Allison Yearwood at allison@plugin.org.

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