orientalism & ephemera
Jamelie Hassan

Opening Saturday April 8, 2 to 5 pm
Artist's Talk Saturday April 8, 3 pm

April 8 to June 30, 2006


Many of Jamelie Hassan's projects have referenced her personal connection to the Middle East. The works presented in orientalism & ephemera in particular draw on Hassan's reading of Edward Said's ground-breaking book Orientalism (1979). Today increasing confusion throughout the world in relation to Arab and Muslim identities continues and has generated rigorous interest in Hassan's long held concerns. This exhibition presents a selection of the artist's collection and helps elucidate the significance and context of her cultural production, as well as that of other artists.

Through souvenirs, pamphlets, postcards, catalogues, travel and commercial items, documents & photographs, Jamelie Hassan explores this idea with a focus on this "Orient", creating an installation with material collected from the cultural spaces of Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Vienna, Istanbul, Paris, Barcelona and Toronto and London, Canada.

The exhibition points to the attraction and presence of the "east" within our everyday experience. For many artists this awareness presents a way to counter the violence of today's conflicts. Much of our contemporary cultural exchange is in response to the repeated violence of the politics of empire-building projects that attempt to colonize the spatial, disempower the colonized and destroy cultures. In "Orientalism", Said brought home the Orient, not as a threatening other but as "an integral part of European material civilization and culture". Hassan's focus on ephemeral artifacts reflects this closeness and presents a modest alternative method to examine the innumerable manifestations of Orientalism.

The idea for orientalism & ephemera was proposed to Art Metropole in 2004 and initially involved the idea of a selection from Hassan's archives, which she calls the "The Centre for Baalqisian Studies". The exhibition has expanded to include some works and projects by contemporary artists, Luitgard Eisenmeier and the Café Nil, Vienna, Johanna Kandl, Vienna, Lisl Ponger, Vienna, Stan Denniston/Jamelie Hassan, Toronto, London, Ont., Ron Benner, London, Ont., Farouk Kaspaules, Ottawa, Duncan de Kergommeaux, Chelsea, Québec and Julie Sando, Windsor.

Artist's Bio
Jamelie Hassan was born in London, Ontario and continues to make this her home. In 1998 she founded the Centre for Baalqisian Studies, a non-profit, non-hierarchical initiative which informally hosts creative work and dialogue and co-sponsors a range of inter-disciplinary projects. Hassan has collaborated with many artist-run centres and was one of the founders of the Forest City Gallery (1973 - on-going) and the Embassy Cultural House, ( 1983-1990). Her installation works are in numerous collections, such as the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt. In 2001 she received the Governor General's Award in recognition of 30 years of contribution to visual arts in Canada. Some of her recent artist/curatorial projects include : Artists Against the Occupation, 2002, Drawn In, Toronto/London, 2003; Collecting in the Site of Production : Book Arts & other works, ArtLab, Visual Arts, University of Western Ontario, London, 2003. Windsor Biennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, 2004; London/Port Stanley Connection, various locations, ON, 2005

Produced with support from the Ontario Arts Council.



Art Metropole thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, as well as private donors for their support.