Visualizing a Culture for Strangers

Chinese Export Paintings of the Nineteenth Century

CURATED BY BARRY TILL | Founders Gallery

With nearly 100 paintings on exhibition, Visualizing a Culture for Strangers showcases the extensive and diverse subject matter of Chinese export paintings. Produced in trading posts for sale to Western customers, these collectible works were imported to Europe and later America in great quantities, illustrating the visual world of…

Conversations

with Lucie Rie

Curated by Toby Lawrence | Drury Gallery

Lucie Rie is renowned for her modernist aesthetic and functional sensibilities. The prolific studio output of the Austrian-born British potter spanned seven decades–a significant contribution to the history of ceramics in the 20th century. With works drawn primarily from the collection of the AGGV, Conversations with Lucie Rie considers…

Hiraki Sawa

Under the Box, Beyond the Bounds

Organized by Michelle Jacques | Ker & Centennial Galleries

Hiraki Sawa: Under the Box, Beyond the Bounds comes to the AGGV following its recent presentation at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in Japan. This is the first comprehensive exhibition of Sawa’s work in Canada, featuring intimately scaled and monumental video works from throughout the artist’s career. Ranging from…

Emily Carr and the Young Generation

On now until May 14 2017

As one of Canada’s most renowned artists, Carr is famous not only for her stunning landscapes, but also for her reputation as a nomadic, solitary artist. Emily Carr and the Young Generation celebrates a new vision of the iconic Victoria artist as both mentor and teacher, lending ideas and influence to a new generation of…

Indian Candy

Dana Claxton

Curated by Toby Lawrence | The LAB Gallery

Curated by Toby Lawrence | Until September 7, 2014 | The LAB Gallery 

Dana Claxton reflects on historical archives and highlights the human propensity to render itself, from Indigenous rock art, to photography, to governmental correspondence. She addresses the complexities of colonialism–past and present–through strategic subversion, and investigates the buried histories of…

From Geisha to Diva

The Kimono of Ichimaru

Curated by Barry Till | Pollard Gallery

The fascinating life of Ichimaru (1906-1997), one of the most famous geishas of the 20th century, is told through this collection of her magnificent kimonos and personal effects. In the 1930s, Ichimaru left geishahood to pursue an illustrious career as a recording artist, but even as a diva, she…

Kimono

Japanese Culture in its Art Form

Guest Curated by Hitomi Harama | Founders Gallery

This exhibition introduces the essence of traditional Japanese Kimono culture. The intent of this exhibition is to showcase the codes and the culture behind Kimono, its artistic form and complexity, along with the etiquette of Kimono attire for different seasons and occasions. Kimono is not simply an article…

Girls

Historical Portraits from the Collection

Curated by Michelle Jacques | Drury Gallery

“Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.” (Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye)

Taking its cue from the realms of literary fiction and television, namely Margaret Atwood’s 1988 novel Cat’s Eye and Lena Denham’s hit HBO show Girls, this exhibition brings together a range…

Through the Looking Glass

A Modern Story from the Collection of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Guest Curated by Lee Plested | Ker and Centennial Galleries

Selected entirely from the collection of the AGGV, Through the Looking Glass is a survey of modern and contemporary art structured according to Lewis Carroll’s late nineteenth century tale of the same title. In the book, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the heroine starts out in the safe…