Sightline‪s‬ Ryerson Image Centre

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?

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 Episode 5 of Sightlines, we talked about how the women in these photographs returned the gaze and challenge our assumptions about colonial photography.

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 3 of Sightlines, we talked about how art can change the way we look at the world around us.

This podcast is generously supported by Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.