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Contested Lands: Canadiana at 150

Exhibition at Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre exposes silenced voices of Canada’s history
Category:Canada 150
May 23, 2017

Over the past 150 years, Canada has earned a global reputation for being an inclusive, multicultural nation that honours the plethora of voices, faces and spaces that have shaped our country’s identity. As we celebrate the achievements of our country on its 150th anniversary, we also pose questions about what voices have been silenced and what faces have been hidden in the process of creating a Canadian nationality and identity.

Contested Lands: Canadiana at 150 at the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre (MLC) features rare books, photographs, postcards, letters, and other historical objects while considering themes of contestation involving First Nations peoples, the Great War and Canadian women. 

Showcasing artifacts from the MLC Research Archive and Ryerson University Archives and Special Collections, the exhibition includes an original oil portrait by William Gush from 1836 of Egerton Ryerson, alongside the critical literary exploration of residential schools by Mohawk writer Tekahionwake (E. Pauline Johnson) and the image of an unknown Indigenous woman pictured upon a striking mere three-inch glass slide.

The trauma of the Great War 1914-1918 and Canada’s role in combat is considered through the original trench school war diary of Lieutenant Percy Puley, which provides lesson plans and notes for educating soldiers on how to protect themselves from gas attacks. Tiny vintage war photography is juxtaposed with the prolific work of women such as Canada’s first unofficial woman war artist Mary Riter Hamilton, who painted the battlefields from 1919 to 1921 in an effort to mitigate the trauma suffered by those wounded in the war. In this, the exhibition also considers the achievements of Canadian women who challenged the unequal political landscape.

"This exhibit shines a light on our past and, in doing so, it demonstrates why equity, diversity, and inclusion are an essential part of all that we do at Ryerson. We know that by welcoming a range of worldviews, experience and knowledge we greatly enrich our learning, teaching, research and work environments,” said President Mohamed Lachemi. “We look forward to welcoming visitors to this exhibit to engage in these topics, which are more important and more relevant than ever.” 

English Professor Irene Gammel curated the exhibit with graduate students and recent alumni Sasi Evani, Cameron Macdonald, Kate Vallely, and Audrey Willsey, in partnership with the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, the English Department, the Ryerson University Library and Archives, and the Fashion Research Collection. This exhibition is presented on the occasion of the 2017 Congress of the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Ryerson under the theme, The Next 150: On Indigenous Lands.

The exhibition opens May 28 and includes a live Twitter (external link)  discussion on May 23 and 30 for those wishing to be part of the discussion in contemplating and critiquing the contested lands of Canada’s past and present.

For more information, please visit mlc.ryerson.ca/exhibitions/contested-lands-canadiana-at-150-exhibition.

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