In keeping with Rebecca Belmore’s exhibition, the MAC will present works from its collection and new acquisitions, including pieces by Nadia Myre, that express something profoundly human as they tackle topics of desire, loss, resilience and knowledge.

Based on themes such as Indigenous identity, Meditations on Red, 2013, is a series of photographs depicting meticulous beadwork. Through the piece, the artist offers a critical reflection on identity as defined by blood and the racist concepts of “white man” and “red.” With her Contact in Monochrome (Toile de Jouy), 2018, wallpaper and Pipe, 2017, her bronze-cast tobacco pipe, she reinterprets the history and evolution of the tobacco trade.

The theme of performativity, present in Rebecca Belmore’s work, can be seen through a completely different lens in the work of Chloë Lum and Yannick Desranleau. Two installations–one a sculpture: The Face Stayed East The Mouth Went West, 2014, a MAC Collection acquisition that has yet to be presented, and the other a video installation: What Do Stones Smell Like in the Forest?, 2018–will be positioned in mutual dialogue. The installation will serve as a testimony to the development of the artists’ work in relation to the living arts and performativity of the last few years.