Join us for a party to celebrate a new season of exhibitions, including:

Gordon Parks: The Flávio Story

TERREMOTO: Mexico, 1985

Claudia Joskowicz: Every Building on Avenida Alfonso Ugarte – After Ruscha

Alia Youssef: The Sisters Project

Light refreshments and cash bar provided.

About the exhibitions:

Gordon Parks: The Flávio Story
An exhibition centred around a seminal photo essay by pioneering African-American photojournalist Gordon Parks—and the extraordinary chain of events it prompted. Published in Life magazine in June 1961, Parks’ piece profiled the da Silva family, living in a hillside favela near a wealthy enclave of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Focused on the eldest son, Flávio, a resourceful twelve-year-old suffering from crippling asthma, the story elicited thousands of letters and nearly $30,000 USD (more than $250,000 today) in donations from Life readers. This exhibition is organized by the Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, Canada, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA, and The Gordon Parks Foundation, New York, USA, in partnership with Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and generously supported by media sponsors The Walrus and the Toronto Star, with assistance from Instituto Sacatar, Bahia, Brazil.

TERREMOTO: Mexico City, 1985
This exhibition explores Mexico City’s massive 1985 earthquake from the multiple perspectives of local and international photographers who documented the tragedy, depicting the city’s destruction, the efforts of rescue brigades, the experiences of grieving survivors, and persistent homelessness in the aftermath. 

Claudia Joskowicz: Every Building on Avenida Alfonso Ugarte – After Ruscha
Focusing on a major boulevard in the Bolivian city of El Alto, the site of violent 2003 protests against foreign exploitation of national petroleum reserves, this two-channel video poetically conflates staged actions with everyday life, exploring the lingering impacts of political upheaval.

Alia Youssef: The Sisters Project
A photographic series of Canadian Muslim women that subverts labels and false associations, counters incorrect narratives around voicelessness and lack of agency, and shows women who are in control of their lives.