Past Exhibitions

Presenting a selection of works by Anishinaabe/French artist Caroline Monnet, this exhibition centers on a recent series of sculptures that explore language reclamation and intergenerational transmission through an engagement with the idea of land as a carrier of ancestral memory. Meaning “the one who listens” in Anishinaabemowin, the title, Pizandawatc, comes from the traditional name of Monnet’s maternal family before surnames were changed by the Oblate missionaries at Kitigan Zibi, in the Outaouais region of Quebec. The title honours the artist’s great-grandmother, Mani Pizandawatc, who was the first in her family to have her territory divided into reserves. At the same time, the title references a receptive way of being in the world, reflected throughout Monnet’s artistic practice.

For the month of June, the McMichael will welcome Toronto-based artist Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka to the Tom Thomson Shack for an artist residency. During the residency, Hatanka will use the shack where Thomson painted some of his most beloved canvases as her studio space, creating a new large-scale work that will remain on view until mid-October.

This exhibition includes more than 100 photographs taken by John Macfie (1925–2018), a settler trapline manager who worked in Northern Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s. Macfie travelled with a camera, recording life in Anishinaabe, Cree, and Anisininew communities during a period of intense and rapid change. The people and places of Attawapiskat, Sandy Lake, Mattagami, and other communities across the Hudson's Bay watershed are revealed through his lens in ways that emphasize the warmth and continuity of community life. Curated by nîpisîhkopâwiyiniw (Willow Cree) curator, writer, journalist, cultural advocate, and commentator Paul Seesequasis, the exhibition centers the lives and resiliency of the Indigenous people represented, many of whom have been identified by Macfie and Seesequasis.

The Subtle Body: Betty Goodwin and David Altmejd from the Collection of Salah Bachir and Jacob Yerex February 17 – May 15, 2024 About the Exhibition Highlighting an important recent gift from Salah Bachir and Jacob Yerex, this exhibition pairs the work of the late [...]

Bertram Brooker: When We Awake! February 10 to June 2, 2024 About the Exhibition Bertram Brooker: When We Awake! examines the career of Bertram Brooker (1888–1955), the first Canadian artist to exhibit abstract paintings, in 1927. Curated by Michael Parke-Taylor, the exhibition is the first comprehensive presentation of Brooker’s oeuvre [...]

Ghosts of Canoe Lake: New Work by Marcel Dzama December 9, 2023 – June 9, 2024 About the Exhibition Marcel Dzama's delicate and fantastical drawings made with ink, watercolour paint and root beer catapulted the Winnipeg-born artist to international fame in the late 1990s. Since then, [...]

Cobalt: A Mining Town and the Canadian Imagination November 18 to April 21, 2024 About the Exhibition Cobalt, Ontario—some 500 kilometres north of Toronto—was established in 1904 following the discovery of rich silver, cobalt, ore, and nickel deposits. At peak production in 1911, Cobalt provided approximately one eighth of the world's [...]

Moridja Kitenge Banza: Topographies Nov 18, 2023 – April 21, 2024 About the Exhibition Using gestural brushwork, bold colour, and the contours observed in the palm of his own hand, the lush paintings of Montreal-based artist Moridja Kitenge Banza reveal the impacts of resource extraction in his home country of the Democratic [...]

Ann MacIntosh Duff July 1, 2023 - February 11, 2024 About the Exhibition For over 70 years, Ann MacIntosh Duff (1925–2022) painted the landscapes and everyday moments of her life. Her most expressive works are those painted from her cottage on Georgian Bay, which record the atmospheric weather on [...]

Tom Thomson (1877–1917) is indisputably Canada’s preeminent modern painter, and his catalytic achievement changed the face of Canadian painting forever. This exhibition will offer a close look at Thomson’s legacy, focusing on the small en plein air oil sketch, of which he is the supreme master.