May 4, 2023 – August 31, 2023
Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories
May 4 – August 30, 2023
Lobby. 1st Floor
Included with admission. Free for Gardiner Friends.
This mixed-media ceramic-based exhibition illuminates the power, courage, and strength of Indo-Caribbean women, past and present. Through a feminist lens, artist Heidi McKenzie reveals the little-known histories of Indo-Indentureship in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries through to today. The installations include a wall-mounted set of contemporary portraits on porcelain, lit from behind, depicting Indo-Caribbean women with portraits of a female ancestor; a collage of “Coolie Belles” on porcelain window panes, inspired by turn-of-the-century postcards and ephemera; and a series of abstract figurative sculptures that respond to the work, alongside select pieces of Indo-Indentureship silver jewellery.
The installation is accompanied by a series of video herstories by Indo-Caribbean women.
This exhibition is supported by the Toronto Arts Council and the Raphael Yu Centre for Contemporary Ceramic
About the Artist
Heidi McKenzie
Heidi McKenzie is a Toronto-based ceramic artist. She completed her MFA at OCAD University in 2014. In 2022, McKenzie was a finalist and exhibitor for the Shantz Award, Canada’s national ceramics emerging artist award, and received the FUSION Clay & Glass Award of Achievement. In 2021, McKenzie was juried Best in Show at the Gardiner Museum exhibition, Flux, The Toronto Potters Biennale. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, in Europe, Southeast Asia, the US, and Canada, including the Toronto International Art Fair. The recipient of numerous grants, McKenzie has created in Denmark, Hungary, Australia, China, and Indonesia. McKenzie uses photography, digital media, and archives to forefront themes of ancestry, race, migration, and colonization. She curated and exhibited Decolonizing Clay at the Australian Ceramics Triennale in 2019, and participated in the World Indian Diaspora Congress in Trinidad in 2020. McKenzie was recently inducted into the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva, Switzerland.
Part of CONTACT
Supported By
Indo-Caribbean Women Past and Present Panel
In this free panel moderated by Alyssa Trotz, speakers Ramabai Espinet, Nalini Mohabir, and Joy Mahabir, responded to the exhibition Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories.
Recorded on June 14, 2023.
Heidi McKenzie, Installation view of Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories, 2023, Gardiner Museum. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Heidi McKenzie, Crescent Moon, 2023, Stoneware, acrylic, silica, steel stand. Photo: Dale Roddick
Heidi McKenzie, Installation view of Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories, 2023, Gardiner Museum. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Heidi McKenzie, Coinage, 2023, Stoneware, porcelain drybrush, steel stands. Photo: Dale Roddick
Exhibition Programs
