We’ve spent the last five episodes talking with artists and curators about the power of the female gaze, and how important it is to give it space in exhibitions like THE WAY SHE LOOKS, showing at the Ryerson Image Centre right now. In our final episode, it’s time to look to the future. What’s next in this important field of visual art? What does the next generation of artists and sitters need in their toolboxes to keep expanding the diversity and representation of African women behind and in front of the camera? This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso.

Sightlines

The future of visual representation of African women

In the nineteenth and early twentieth-century, images of African women by Western photographers were presented as ethnographic specimens or exotic curiosities for avid European audiences. In spite of the many abuses endured by African women in front of the camera, some early photographic images reveal more complexity than you might expect. These women found opportunities for self-affirmation.  In Episode 5 of Sightlines, we talked about how the women in these photographs returned the gaze and challenge our assumptions about colonial photography. This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso.

Rethinking Colonial Imagery

There’s a reason we buy art, go to exhibitions, invite our friends, argue about what we’ve seen over the dinner table. It may not be as in-your-face as a protest, or as text-heavy as a speech in Parliament, but that’s what makes it powerful - because it settles into your brain for you to mull over in your own time. In Episode 4 of Sightlines, we talked about how art can change the way we look at the world around us (or so we hope). This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso.

Art as Activism

Diverse representation. It’s a phrase that’s thrown around in a lot of sectors - hiring, publishing, politics, education and art.  In Episode 3 of Sightlines, we talked to photographers, educators and curators about how to diversify who we see in the diaspora of representation in African portraiture.  This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso.

Is there space in the visual culture for a diversity of Black womanhood?

Whether you're organizing an exhibition at a gallery or managing an Instagram account, curators must balance historical accuracy with the vision of the artist. And this is especially true when you’re working with content gathered over decades, like that of the Walther Collection. In Episode 2 of Sightlines, we talk to artists and curators about The Way She Looks - a new exhibition on now at the Ryerson Image Centre. This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso.

Collecting and curating art by Black and African artists

Artists frame the way we see the world --  and their subjects, even in photos where you don’t see their agency, are part of that narrative. At the newest exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre, the goal was to challenge mainstream representations of women of African descent. From colonial imagery to contemporary portraits, THE WAY SHE LOOKS captures the diversity of women in Africa. Thanks to artist, curator and educator, Syrus Marcus Ware, Kenneth Montague of Wedge Curatorial Projects, the honourable Jean Augustine, Karen Carter of BAND, and of course Gaelle Morel. This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso. In our next episode, we’ll talk more about what goes into creating a collection by black and African artists, including insights from Dr. Cheryl Thompson.  

Challenging Mainstream Representations of African Women

Starting soon, Sightlines, a podcast from the Ryerson Image Centre.

Teaser

For almost 200 years, photographers have framed the way we see the world and shaped the visual culture that all of us live within. We spoke to artists, activists, and curators about the representation of African women in photography in relation to a new exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre, The Way She Looks: A History of Female Gazes in African Portraiture. Podcast produced by The Walrus Lab.

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Sightlines

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