UPCOMING EXHIBITION
An Archive of Queer Touch
Artists: Emily Davidson, August Klintberg, Andrew McPhail, Hazel Meyer, Aaron McIntosh, Preston Pavlis, Jade Yumang
An Archive of Queer Touch brings together works by seven contemporary 2SLGBTQ+ artists that combine an interest in collective historical memory with the practices of quilt-making. Posing the question of how to touch history, particularly histories that have gone unrecorded, the exhibition explores quilt-making as a tactile, embodied medium for working with 2SLGBTQ+ legacies of love and resistance.
Quilts have long been made to record personal and collective histories; while often considered domestic items, they also have a significant history as activist and public art—the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is a key example and central referent in the exhibition. Exploring the renewed interest in quilting among contemporary 2SLGBTQ+ artists, An Archive of Queer Touch considers how quilting’s material practices and traditions of memory work offer ways of touching history. Drawing from archival publications, activist imagery, inherited materials, and personal memories, the artists engage with histories of queer activism, loss, intimacy, and survival.
An Archive of Queer Touch also reflects on notions of legacy and inheritance, asking how queer and trans communities preserve and pass down histories and traditions outside conventional structures of familial inheritance. The exhibition positions the quilt as a queer archive—a form and method for gathering, reassembling, and transmitting histories. The works reflect how queer and trans histories are often fragmented, and yet are continually pieced together by new generations. In bringing these artworks into conversation, the exhibition not only illuminates these practices but actively contributes to them, quilting new stories into the fabric of queer and trans cultural memory.
Opening Reception: Thursday January 21, 5-8 p.m. Remarks at 6 p.m.
Image Credit: Aaron Mclntosh, Entanglements: Flowers at the Border / Keeping Safe, 2022.
McMaster Museum of Art gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario.
Curated by: Genevieve Flavelle
January 21-June 25, 2027
Opening Reception: Thursday January 21, 5-8 p.m.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
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An Archive of Queer Touch
January 21-June 25, 2027
Opening Reception: Thursday January 21, 5-8 p.m.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
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SUBMISSIONS & ASSISTANCE
SUBMISSIONS:
The McMaster Museum of Art is presently not accepting artists’ submissions for exhibitions at this time of leadership change at the museum. Our Interim Director will be undertaking a review of the museum’s forward exhibition schedule, as well as our policies and procedures, in the coming months. Our present focus is the ongoing maintenance of our permanent collection and storage needs for future collection activities.
The museum remains committed to our collecting priority in the continued support of early career, mid-career and established Indigenous artists, artists of the Black diaspora and racialized artists through purchases and commissions. Donations will be welcomed and reviewed at a future date which will be posted on our website.
ASSISTANCE:
The McMaster Museum of Art is a third party recommender for Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Exhibition Assistance Grants.
The museum is currently accepting applications. Our next program deadline is: December 16, 2024.
Priorities:
Artists who demonstrate an interest and consideration of art as a medium for social change and action.
Please follow the guidelines established by the Ontario Arts Council, apply directly through their website, and submit the following with your applications:
Brief artist statement
Confirmation letter from the gallery/museum/venue
Budget
CV
Digital images of work
