News & Events

The Ryerson Image Centre is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Gaëlle Morel as the gallery's first curator. Morel's exhibition history to date has been international in scope, including numerous shows in Paris, Montreal and Toronto. Her exhibition projects and publications bring together a solid understanding of historical and contemporary art practices with a strong focus on photography and photojournalism while developing thematic approaches that speak to modern audiences in new and exciting ways. Morel's role as curator will significantly influence the development of the Ryerson Image Centre (formerly known as the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre), scheduled to open in September 2012.

Morel will share the responsibility for developing a challenging and relevant long-term exhibition plan with Ryerson Image Centre Director, Doina Popescu. In addition to developing and executing exhibitions, installations and educational programs, Morel will curate and co-curate exhibitions, and collaborate with organizers, guest curators and a variety of local, national and international institutions. She is currently curating an exhibition that takes a fresh look at the work of renowned American photographer Berenice Abbott for the Jeu de Paume in Paris, France, and the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto. The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue.

"A curator is a link between the artist and the audience," Morel says. "It's important to help people to understand the images, their creation and dissemination, and the links between archival material and contemporary art. The role of curator at the Ryerson Image Centre presents an opportunity to show materials that are rarely exhibited, to take curatorial risks and to experiment. I am looking forward to doing things that have not been done before or not done in this way before, and creating something new in the city of Toronto."

Morel holds a PhD in History of Contemporary Art, from the University of Paris 1-Pantheon-Sorbonne. Her thesis was entitled La Culture de l'auteur, l'institution de la photographie en France depuis les annees 1970 (The Culture of the Artist: the Establishing of Photography in France since the 1970s). Between 2003 and 2008 she was the general secretary of the world-renowned French Photographic Society and deeply engaged in related curatorial projects. She was the director and organizer of several important international conferences including Photography and Institution(s): Transatlantic Exchanges between Paris and New York, 19th-20th Centuries, and Artistic Practice and Photojournalism. After moving to Canada, Morel was appointed guest curator of Montreal's biennale of photography the Mois de la Photo 2009, for which she brought together 24 Canadian and international solo exhibitions and public space interventions under the title of The Spaces of the Image. She organized the accompanying international conference and edited the exhibition catalogue. In the past year, Morel curated a number of shows in Toronto: Falls and Implosions, works by Denis Darzacq and Mathieu Pernot at the Alliance Francaise; Emmanuelle Leonard: A Judicial Perspective at Gallery 44; and Sammy Baloji: Views of Likasi at the Contact Gallery.

"We are delighted to welcome Gaëlle Morel on board as the first curator at the Ryerson Image Centre," says Doina Popescu. "During her young career, Gaëlle has displayed a remarkable expertise in the history of photojournalism and fine art photography, both of which form the essence of the collection at the RIC."

"Gaëlle has also developed exciting new perspectives on the relationship of photography to a wide range of contemporary art practices, including video installation and new media work, thus expanding the essential questions that must be asked of photography today. She comes to us with an impressive publication and curatorial background as well as with valuable experiences in the international arts community, which will help deepen the dialogue around photography in Toronto and beyond. We look forward to engaging with the innovative, new voice that Gaëlle Morel will bring to our projects at Ryerson University and to the vibrant arts scene in Toronto."

Ryerson Image Centre will open its doors in September 2012 with dynamic public exhibitions in new gallery spaces, extraordinary research opportunities and a significant photography collection with the famous Black Star collection of approximately 292,000 photojournalistic prints at its core. International in scope and focusing on photography, new media and film, this cutting-edge centre brings an exciting combination of public exhibition of innovative work by professional Canadian and international artists, and inspiring academic research and educational opportunities, to the public and the international arts and academic communities. The Ryerson Image Centre is located in the Ryerson University Image Arts building at 33 Gould Street in the heart of downtown Toronto. The public can subscribe to Ryerson Image Centre news and updates at www.ryerson.ca/ric.