Another milestone: The final day open to the public is 28 March 2024, 10 am–9 pm.

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Let the voices of artists, curators and members of our community extend your experience of art at Agnes through podcasts and audio guides. 

A dancer wearing a bird mask from Ogoniland performs at the Illicit Gin Institute.
Illicit Gin Institute Soundscape, Wolfe Island
Soundscape, produced by Sadaf Amini and Lowell Cochrane, Arts & Science Online. Activist Design in Educational Multimedia Project, Collaboration between Arts & Science Online and Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Transcript

Illicit Gin Institute Soundscape, Wolfe Island
Soundscape, produced by Sadaf Amini and Lowell Cochrane, Arts & Science Online. Activist Design in Educational Multimedia Project, Collaboration between Arts & Science Online and Centre for Teaching and Learning.
With Opened Mouths: The Podcast
Seasons 1 and 2

Transcript

With Opened Mouths: The Podcast
Seasons 1 and 2
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A carved wooden figure, bearded with breasts. Lower half of the body covered in leaf-like motif.
The Unnamed Genderfluid Figure: Transgender and Intersex Interpretations of Medieval Christian Art
Dr Jennifer Awes Freeman provides an interpretation of this genderfluid architectural wooden relief.

Transcript

The Unnamed Genderfluid Figure: Transgender and Intersex Interpretations of Medieval Christian Art
Dr Jennifer Awes Freeman provides an interpretation of this genderfluid architectural wooden relief.
Outrageous Worldmaking from a Bright
Yellow Kitchen
In this episode, Emelie Chhangur, Director Curator of Agnes Etherington Art Centre speaks about worldmaking and her radical curatorial practice.

Transcript

Outrageous Worldmaking from a Bright
Yellow Kitchen
In this episode, Emelie Chhangur, Director Curator of Agnes Etherington Art Centre speaks about worldmaking and her radical curatorial practice.
Travelling in a Multiverse of Hybridity
Artist Rajni Perera speaks to Qanita Lilla about the interstellar travelers and the multiversal futurisms that inform her practice.

Transcript

Travelling in a Multiverse of Hybridity
Artist Rajni Perera speaks to Qanita Lilla about the interstellar travelers and the multiversal futurisms that inform her practice.
Drawing Power From Poetry
In this episode, poet Juliane Okot Bitek shares how stories have the power to transform who we are and how we situate ourselves in the world.

Transcript

Drawing Power From Poetry
In this episode, poet Juliane Okot Bitek shares how stories have the power to transform who we are and how we situate ourselves in the world.
A dancer wearing a bird mask from Ogoniland performs at the Illicit Gin Institute.
Illicit Gin Institute Soundscape, Wolfe Island
Soundscape, produced by Sadaf Amini and Lowell Cochrane, Arts & Science Online. Activist Design in Educational Multimedia Project, Collaboration between Arts & Science Online and Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Transcript

Illicit Gin Institute Soundscape, Wolfe Island
Soundscape, produced by Sadaf Amini and Lowell Cochrane, Arts & Science Online. Activist Design in Educational Multimedia Project, Collaboration between Arts & Science Online and Centre for Teaching and Learning.
Imagining African Digital Futures
Working at the intersections of tech and cultural heritage, Chao Tayiana Maina speaks with Qanita Lilla about her vision for African digital futures.

Transcript

Imagining African Digital Futures
Working at the intersections of tech and cultural heritage, Chao Tayiana Maina speaks with Qanita Lilla about her vision for African digital futures.
Manifesting Black Feminist Subjectivity
Visual artist, Kosisochukwu Nnebe talks with Qanita Lilla about her artistic practice inspired by social theory and lived experience.

Transcript

Manifesting Black Feminist Subjectivity
Visual artist, Kosisochukwu Nnebe talks with Qanita Lilla about her artistic practice inspired by social theory and lived experience.
Sweet Grass, Boiled Eggs and Table Manners
Spoken word poet, Billie the Kid speaks with Qanita Lilla about honouring stories as a living entities.

Transcript

Sweet Grass, Boiled Eggs and Table Manners
Spoken word poet, Billie the Kid speaks with Qanita Lilla about honouring stories as a living entities.
Access as Kindness
Lebanese Canadian actor, writer, and curator Yousef Kadoura speaks with Qanita Lilla about the diverse experiences and boundaries of performance in pursuit of accessibility.

Transcript

Access as Kindness
Lebanese Canadian actor, writer, and curator Yousef Kadoura speaks with Qanita Lilla about the diverse experiences and boundaries of performance in pursuit of accessibility.

Audio Guides

The Unnamed Genderfluid Figure: Transgender and Intersex Interpretations of Medieval Christian Art
The Unnamed Genderfluid Figure: Transgender and Intersex Interpretations of Medieval Christian Art

Transcript

The Unnamed Genderfluid Figure: Transgender and Intersex Interpretations of Medieval Christian Art
Dr Jennifer Awes Freeman provides an interpretation of this genderfluid architectural wooden relief.
Sandra Brewster’s “Blur” (2019)
Sandra Brewster’s “Blur” (2019)

Transcript

Sandra Brewster’s “Blur” (2019)
Sunny Kerr, Curator of Contemporary Art

>> Hi, there. My name is Sunny Kerr. I’m curator of contemporary art at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. And we are here in the Agnes Atrium to talk about a new installation by Canadian artist, Sandra Brewster, called Blur. And Blur is, first and foremost, a bold statement regarding black Canadians, black Kingstonians, almost as if it’s saying, “We are here.” Really asserting a kind of presence of black people in our communities. And this is important because we live in a climate that can be sympathetic to a kind of postracialist idea, a post-racialism idea wherein it’s almost as if normative cultures, white centred mainstream cultures, are saying racism is historical. We’re not racist. But at the same time, one often hears broad assumptions or one makes oneself broad assumptions like, you know, Kingston is so white — Canada is so white, which enacts a certain kind of erasure of racialized peoples and black Canadians, particularly. And so with this work, especially through her material choices, Sandra Brewster is making this kind of strong assertion at the same time that it’s — it has many layers of complexity. So at the same time that it’s making this bold assertion, it is also doing it in a complex way that, I think, eschews the politics of tokenism, and makes more complex the, kind of, demand for multicultural representation. And I think, through her material choices, Sandra Brewster is also — one of the keys to the work is that certain things are always kept hidden. So essentially, the work is images of three black community members from Kingston. One of them, of course, appears twice. There are four figures, as you can see here. Brewster is depicting them here in blurred motion. And in — and that’s the way in which she really gets at a kind of transitional state at the same time as there’s this, kind of, sticking to or presence, there’s also a sense of movement and transition within. Really influenced, I think, by Sandra Brewster’s own heritage. Her — the legacy of her own parents’ migration to Canada from Guyana in the 1960s. And it’s through precisely the — the material process, which is a gel transfer process. Ink is printed right onto the walls in a quite unpredictable and labour intensive process. And — and through this they come to look almost like old, worn photographs because of the kind of tearing, creasing, and folding that happens during the gel transfer process. I should say, finally, that the installation was also designed as a commission for the collection, whereby Sandra Brewster visited Kingston and, through an open call, photographed members of Kingston’s black community and made these new works, one of which will be entering the Agnes collection and then can be remounted at — at this scale in the future.

Elisabetta Sirani’s “The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist” (around 1650-1660)
Elisabetta Sirani’s “The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist” (around 1650-1660)

Transcript

Elisabetta Sirani’s “The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist” (around 1650-1660)
Hear three unique perspectives on this print by Elisabetta Sirani.
Horatio Walker’s “Turning the Harrow – Early Morning (1898)
Horatio Walker’s “Turning the Harrow – Early Morning (1898)

Transcript

Horatio Walker’s “Turning the Harrow – Early Morning (1898)
Accompanying the exhibition Nocturne are a series of audio guides delving into the themes of Horatio Walker's painting.
Godfrey Kneller’s “Scholar in His Study” (about 1668)
Godfrey Kneller’s “Scholar in His Study” (about 1668)

Transcript

Godfrey Kneller’s “Scholar in His Study” (about 1668)
A collection highlight featuring a variety of perspectives on this painting.
Footnotes
Image Credits
Queen’s University
36 University Avenue
Kingston, Ontario
Canada K7L 3N6
T (613) 533.2190
aeac@queensu.ca
Agnes Etherington Art Centre is situated on the territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek.

Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway): Gimaakwe Gchi-gkinoomaagegamig atemagad Naadowe miinwaa Anishinaabe aking.

Kanyen’keha (Mohawk): Ne Agnes Etherington Art Centre e’tho nońwe nikanónhsote tsi nońwe ne Haudenasaunee tánon Anishinaabek tehatihsnónhsahere ne óhontsa.

Agnes is committed to anti-racism. We work to eradicate institutional biases and develop accountable programs that support and centre the artistic expression and lived experience of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. Agnes promotes 2SLGBTQIAP+ positive spaces.

© Agnes Etherington Art Centre 2024

Queen’s University
36 University Avenue
Kingston, Ontario
Canada K7L 3N6
T (613) 533.2190
F (613) 533.6765
aeac@queensu.ca
Agnes Etherington Art Centre is situated on the territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek.

Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway): Gimaakwe Gchi-gkinoomaagegamig atemagad Naadowe miinwaa Anishinaabe aking.

Kanyen’keha (Mohawk): Ne Agnes Etherington Art Centre e’tho nońwe nikanónhsote tsi nońwe ne Haudenasaunee tánon Anishinaabek tehatihsnónhsahere ne óhontsa.

Agnes is committed to anti-racism. We work to eradicate institutional biases and develop accountable programs that support and centre the artistic expression and lived experience of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. Agnes promotes 2SLGBTQIAP+ positive spaces.
© Agnes Etherington Art Centre 2024

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