Pageant is Natalie King’s solo exhibition curated by Ryan Rice, centred on facets of (re)presentation and presence; a proactive measure to take up space and be seen in a magnificent light with dignity and prominence. King’s paintings parade a dazzling body of work experienced through a lens of pageantry and flamboyance that is presented as an invitation to witness the strength that is drawn from bold Queer Indigenous pride. Poised around the spirited painting Miss Gay Ojibwe, King’s work emanates joy, self-reflection, queerness and Indigeneity. The exhibition imparts King’s colorful palette, which camouflages and teases out binaries embedded in the façade of beauty, to spark conversations of desire, belonging and reverence. Pageant embraces the occasion to display necessary, transformational shifts for societal values and norms to adapt through the intentions to invoke a fluid form of place-making, with a vulnerable sense of world-building that is, at the same time, pleasure-centred and working through dialogues of resistance and joy.
This exhibition was made possible by the support of the Toronto Arts Council.
Click HERE to read exhibition essay by Ryan Rice
EXHIBITION: February 25 – April 16, 2022
