In 1984, for its first major exhibition of photography, the AGO relied on loans from local collectors. In a jubilant reversal, on the occasion of the department’s 25th anniversary, the museum presents this exhibition drawn from the rich collection the AGO has since built, featuring artworks chosen by the community that has helped it flourish.
In a departure from traditional curatorial models, Collective Visions: Celebrating 25 Years of Photography is shaped by more than 80 artists, collectors, donors, curators, community leaders, and scholars, beginning with a selection by Curator Emeritus Maia-Mari Sutnik. Structured as an “exquisite corpse”—the collaborative game popularized by the Surrealists in the 1920s—each participant selects a photograph in response to the previous choice. Unfolding image by image, the exhibition reveals a web of relationships, sensibilities, and perspectives, offering a living portrait of photography’s evolving place in Toronto’s cultural landscape.
Organized by Sophie Hackett, the AGO’s Curator of Photography, Collective Visions: Celebrating 25 Years of Photography aims to highlight the breadth of the AGO’s photography collection, representing a diverse range of artists, artistic genres and approaches, subject matter, and materials. Accompanied by responses from the participants, the works on view offer a rich and varied perspective on the medium of photography.
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