Sasha Huber, Shona Illingworth, and Sandra Brewster

The Power Plant reopens with three solo exhibitions by international and Canadian artists working across photography, video, installation and drawing that reflect on human relationships with and interventions on the land. From examining the politics of the air we breathe, to exploring acts of remembrance, the artists engage visitors in urgent contemporary discussions about lived experiences of migration, power, and memory. These exhibitions will be accompanied by a program of discursive events, talks, and tours, published on the gallery’s social channels and its website. 

“In 2022, The Power Plant will be celebrating our 35th anniversary and I’m excited to open our anniversary year with the works of these three thought-provoking women artists,” said Gaëtane Verna, Director & Artistic Director. “These exhibitions spotlight The Power Plant’s commitment to being a safe space for open dialogues that confront critical issues of our time through art and ideas by artists from Canada and the world.”

Sasha Huber: YOU NAME IT 
Curated by Noor Alé, Associate Curator
Swiss-Haitian-Finnish artist Sasha Huber uses performance, photography, and film, among other media, to investigate colonial residues left in the environment. YOU NAME IT, Huber’s first solo show in North America, will feature over a decade’s worth of work prompted by the cultural and political activist campaign “Demounting Louis Agassiz,” which seeks to redress the racist legacy of the Swiss-born naturalist and glaciologist Louis Agassiz (1807–1873). Huber’s artworks challenge the terms by which we remember, asking not only who and what we memorialize, but also, and more importantly, how we do so. The exhibition is initiated, organized​, and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada​, in collaboration with Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Autograph ABP, London, United Kingdom; and Turku Museum, Finland.  

Sasha Huber is a Swiss-Haitian-Finnish artist who lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. Recent solo exhibitions include Artivist Lab, Prague (2020); Centro Helio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro (2019); and Forum Box, Helsinki (2016). She has participated in international exhibitions, including the 56th Venice Biennale (2015); 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); and 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010). Huber is completing her PhD at the Department of Art and Media at the Zurich University of the Arts, and she holds an MA from the University of Art and Design Helsinki. 

Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air 
Guest curated by Amin Alsaden 
In her first major solo exhibition in Canada, Shona Illingworth presents works that explore how space is occupied today. She probes how current modes of governance, surveillance, and weaponization are invading our interior worlds and transcending the borders of nation-states to create new frameworks of dominance and colonization. Illingworth’s inquiry reveals emerging power relations and knowledge structures that determine the manner in which we inhabit the world, contemplating their potential catastrophic impact on our co-existence and survival on this planet. To coincide with her exhibition, Illingworth is launching a new book Topologies of Air, edited by Anthony Downey, that includes commissioned essays and a forward by The Power Plant’s Director & Artistic Director, Gaëtane Verna.  

Shona Illingworth is a Danish artist based in London, UK. Recent and forthcoming solo exhibitions include Bahrain National Museum, Manama (2022); UNSW Galleries, Sydney (2016); and, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool (2015). She has participated in group exhibitions at numerous international venues including the Wellcome Collection, London (2018-19); Imperial War Museum, London (2017-18); Museum of Modern Art, Bologna (2008); and, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul (2006). Illingworth was a recipient of the Stanley Picker Fellowship, shortlisted for the Jarman Award (2016), is currently an Imperial War Museum Associate, and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Digital War. 

Sandra Brewster: By Way of Communion
Curated by Joséphine Denis, TD Curator of Education and Outreach Fellow, 2021–2023
Toronto-based Canadian artist Sandra Brewster has been invited to create a new site-specific installation at The Power Plant. Brewster will transform the light-flooded Clerestory into an arboreal landscape soaring across both sides of the space. Brewster’s photo-based gel transfers, installed directly onto the gallery’s walls, will envelop visitors in a lush atmosphere. The scratches and ridges in her weathered images reference profound identity shifts that Caribbean immigrants experience when arriving in Canada, the complex and layered experiences of whom Brewster has been consistently exploring throughout her practice. Outside the gallery, Brewster presents a new interactive sculpture commissioned by ArtworxTO A Place To Put Your Things, a swing set with a seat in the form of a couple’s kiss.

Sandra Brewster is a Canadian artist, born in Toronto where she is presently based.  Brewster has shown her work in solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2019); Or Gallery, Vancouver (2019); and Never Apart Gallery, Montreal (2017). She has participated in group exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2019); Mercer Union, Toronto (2018); Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s, (2016); and Allegheny Art Galleries, Meadville (2015). Her exhibition It’s all a blur... received the Gattuso Prize for outstanding featured exhibition of CONTACT Photography Festival 2017. In 2018, Brewster was the recipient of the Artist Prize from Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts, and she was an Artist-in-Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Brewster holds a Masters of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BFA from York University, Toronto.  

About The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery 
The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is Canada’s leading public gallery devoted exclusively to contemporary visual art. It is a vital forum for the advanced artistic culture of our time that offers an exceptional facility and professional support to diverse living artists, while engaging equally diverse audiences in their work. The Power Plant pursues its activities through exhibitions, publications, and public programming that incorporate other areas of culture when they intersect with visual art. For more information, please visit thepowerplant.org.  

Support for YOU NAME IT includes: Presenting Donor, Lonti Ebers; Lead Donor, Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation; Major Donor, Phil Lind & Ellen Roland; Support Donors, Fonds Hamelys, Lillian and Billy Mauer; Donors Jennifer Grant & David Dattels, Roula & Jad Shimaly; International Arts Partners, Nordic Bridges, Pro Helvetia; Official Transportation Partner of Nordic Bridges, Icelandair.

Support for Topologies of Air includes: International Arts Partners, Nordic Bridges; Official Transportation Partner of Nordic Bridges, Icelandair.

Support for By Way of Communion includes: Support Donors, Anonymous, Sue Kidd & Susie Kololian; Donors, Dr. Kenneth Montague & Ms. Sarah Aranha, Roula & Jad Shimaly, Adam Vigna.

Winter 2022 Presenting Sponsor: TD READY COMMITMENT

Admission to The Power Plant is all year, all free, presented by BMO Bank of Montreal Financial Group.

Advance images can be downloaded here. For interview requests and more information, contact media@thepowerplant.org.