Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History 
June 14 - June 24, 2023
Satellite Project Space
121 Dundas St, London, ON

​Embassy Cultural House: Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History is an exhibition that charts the past and present programs of the Embassy Cultural House. Beginning with the Embassy Hotel in 1983, the exhibition acknowledges the efforts made by a network of artists and activists in London, Ontario and internationally, including the current, re-invigorated community collective initiated in 2020. The exhibition has been coordinated by Ron Benner, Jamelie Hassan, Wyn Geleynse and Olivia Mossuto.  Further programming will address this legacy, in addition to an upcoming publication expected fall 2023.

Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History includes works by Jessie Amery, Stephen Andrews, Rebecca Baird & Kenny Baird, Ron Benner, Tom Benner, Carole Condé & Karl Beveridge, Sheri Cowan, Susan Day, Duncan de Kergommeaux, Patricia Deadman, Stan Denniston, Reid Diamond, Holly English, Soheila Esfahani, kerry ferris, Mireya Folch-Serra, Wyn Geleynse, Oliver Girling, Anahí Gonzalez, Gildo Gonzalez, Jamelie Hassan, Fern Helfand, Jared Hendricks-Polack, Spring Hurlbut, Martyn Judson, Sharmistha Kar, George Kubresli, Patrick Mahon, Doug Mitchell, Kim Moodie, Catherine Morrisey, Olivia Mossuto, Kim Neudorf, Shelley Niro, Oscar Ortiz, Troy Ouelette, Judith Rodger, Thelma Rosner, Jenna Rose Sands, Roland Schubert, Jean Spence, Diana Tamblyn, John Tamblyn, Jeff Thomas, Larry Towell, Bernice Vincent, Don Vincent, and Jade Williamson​. 

Exhibition poster designed by Olivia Mossuto, based on an Embassy Cultural House newsletter from 1983.

Installation Documentation
Satellite Project Space and Museum London's Rhino Lounge

Various materials by Embassy Cultural House contributors featured during the Satellite Project Space exhibition. Materials featured included a brick from the original building of the Embassy Hotel, a wax eye fragment by Peter Cosco (originally installed in the Embassy Hotel), wall eggs by Holly English, and publications and ephemera by SF Ho, Andy Patton, Janice Gurney and David Merritt.

Artwork Documentation

Dorset pins created by Lynda Watson, Meg Cheesman and Joy Cowell, members of the Embroidery Guild of London. Supplies were donated by Kathy Morgan and Rose Klein, and pins were stitched on by Jessie Amery and Sandra Bell. The pins were originally created to commemorate an event that was planned for “Sleepwalking: Embassy Cultural House stands with Hong Kong," in support of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. The pins will now be given as commemorative gifts to participating members of the “Sleepwalking" events, alongside the commemorative postcard featuring Andy Patton's painting, “Dissent," 2011, which was also featured in a “Sleepwalking" event.

Opening Event: June 14

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Cultural Advocacy Begins Around the Table
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Exhibition Text by Ruth Skinner

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Embassy Cultural House. It is also the year that Forest City Gallery turns 50. In the words of Jamelie Hassan, the two organizations have shared “a definite trajectory” from their very beginnings—and even before those beginnings.1 In a recent conversation, Jamelie recalled that FCG was initially envisioned as a space that would be run out of an artists’ hotel. Shortly before the birth of her son, Tariq Hassan Gordon in 1973, Jamelie and her colleagues began to look for a suitable multi-purpose space that could be artist-run and operated. In the words of Dave Gordon, a particular artistic “vacuum” followed the closure of Region Gallery and 20/20 Gallery.2 This was compounded by a shift in atmosphere at the York Hotel from artist and music community hangout to something less wonderful. The concept of an art hotel was percolating in the community, a possibility of reigniting the vibrant but somewhat tremulous art scene. Jamelie recalls that the Mayfair Hotel, which was once located on King Street between Talbot Street and Ridout Street, was a desirable venue, though there was scepticism of whether London’s artists could coordinate to bring such a venture into being. The intention was an artist-run space in cooperation with the owners, Alex and Ayshi Hassan, Jamelie’s parents. Alas, an artists’ hotel at the Mayfair was not destined to be; the owners could not attain the licence required to make it viable and sold the King Street hotel. Forest City Gallery did come into being, however, founded by Jamelie Hassan, David Gordon, Greg Curnoe, Murray Favro, kerry ferris, Robert Fones, and Ron Martin. Ron Benner, Christopher Dewdney and Bernice Vincent joined the FCG gallery board in 1975.

But as the story goes, in 1983, Jamelie, Ron Benner, Eric Stach shifted their focus away from London’s FCG and began programs at the Embassy Hotel and Embassy Cultural House. Others from FCG were enthusiastic and became involved shortly after the founding of ECH. Artist-run culture can be cyclical: what is planted in earnest and with fervour can, with good fortune, grow and become rooted. But the long-term health of such a creation entails growing demand and growing need: FCG, by then in its tenth year, was accountable not only to its membership but also to funders like the Canada Council for the Arts, whose perceived primary focus was on the visual arts (though the CCA supported a range of cultural practices from the outset). Bernice Vincent describes an additional constriction particular to publicly funded parallel galleries: “All these proposals have to be made, and we have to know so far in advance what we’re doing that quite often any spontaneity that we hope for is lost.”3 In the words of Melanie Townsend: Jamelie, Ron and Eric desired “to start something new that could be more than an art gallery, a project that also fed the desire to be culturally and politically engaged, and that embraced cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural practices in all forms (visual art, installation, performance, film, poetry, music), and to be unapologetically political in the process.”4 ECH was born, and over eight intense years its artist board produced exciting, transnational programming never before seen in the city. London had already firmly secured its identity as a hub of cultural activity and advocacy, but the work of ECH had a specifically cosmopolitan spirit that refracted the regionalist focus of the 1960s and 1970s. Though the artist board of the ECH folded in 1990, the advocacy generated by ECH-affiliated artists continued. Their collaborations, solidarity work and social projects remain international in scope.

“If you want to save a building, the best way is to get artists involved,” Jamelie commented when discussing this early history. She and Ron have recently celebrated the heritage status of 514 Pall Mall Street. From their kitchen and studio tables, they’ve continued generating communities and projects (many of which you’ll see evidence of here at Satellite Project Space, and in the windows of Jill’s Table, Colour by Schubert, and Framing and Arts Centre). In 2020, Tariq Hassan Gordon’s initiative to digitally archive the history of the ECH quickly blossomed into a total reformulation and reinvigoration of the ECH itself; Olivia Mossuto, and a dedicated volunteer team have been central to ongoing ECH programming over the last three years. Discussing the need to archive ECH’s activities during the COVID lockdown, Tariq emphasized how, in that moment, “the advocacy moves to the kitchen table.” Or the studio table. Or the bar table. Or the bedside table in the hotel room at the Embassy where the art installation is happening. Or through the computer screen, where we can meet one another at our own kitchen and office tables.

I’m reaching across my table to hold your hand tightly, thanking you for all you do. 

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Free postcards that were available during the Satellite Project Space exhibition.

Various materials by Embassy Cultural House contributors featured during the Satellite Project Space exhibition.

​1 In conversation with Jamelie Hassan, Ron Benner and Olivia Mossuto (and cappuccinos) at 514 Pall Mall, May 2023.

2 Dave Gordon, with Bernice Vincent, Murray Favro, Kerry Ferris, Robert Fones, and Ron Martin, “Forest City Gallery founding members talk 1993,” archived on Mark Favro’s YouTube Channel, 14 February 2023: https://youtu.be/csjdbKH7Ogk

3 As quoted in “Forest City Gallery founding members talk 1993.”

4 See Melanie Townsend’s Introduction to The Embassy Cultural House, 1983 - 1990 (London, ON: Museum London, 2012), pages 5-6. 

Ruth Skinner is the current Director of Forest City Gallery, and she works as an arts organizer, curator, publisher and educator in London, Ontario. She’s operated as the art imprint Edna Press since 2017 and is a co-organizer of Support project space alongside Tegan Moore and Liza Eurich. She is part of the Advisory Circle for the Embassy Cultural House; previously, she served on the Board of Forest City Gallery and was a cofounder of Good Sport Gallery. 

Shelley Niro, “Buffet," 2016. “Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History," Commemorative Postcard, 1 of 3.

Andy Patton, “Dissent," 2011. “Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History," Commemorative Postcard, 2 of 3.

Jamelie Hassan, “Embassy at Nite," 1973/2023, Photo by Ron Benner. “Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History," Commemorative Postcard, 3 of 3.

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Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History: Cloud to Street
June 14 - July 10

Jill’s Table
115 King St, London, ON
Colour by Schubert
121 King St, London, ON
Framing and Art Centre
371 Horton St. E, London, ON

The Cloud to Street initiative began on Earth Day 2021 with Stop Extinction! Restore the Earth, an Embassy Cultural House exhibition in collaboration with GardenShip & State, a project curated by Patrick Mahon and Jeff Thomas. Tariq Hassan Gordon, the ECH's coordinating editor, came up with the idea as a way for the public to safely engage with contemporary art while also enhancing our connections with our local partners and independent businesses. Through this initiative, the ECH has highlighted artworks with Colour by Schubert, Jill's Table, Brown and Dickson Bookstore, and The Framing and Art Centre, which address different thematic exhibitions. The artwork is installed in each storefront for an extended period in relation to the ECH's online exhibitions.

Cloud to Street Documentation

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The group exhibitions comprising Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History has been organized and installed by Ron Benner, Jamelie Hassan, Wyn Geleynse and Olivia Mossuto. The Embassy Cultural House thanks all of the ECH contributors for the over 40 years of generously sharing their cultural work, and especially the recent community, that has come together over the last three years to bring programs and an audience to the ECH’s initiatives.

Special thanks to Tariq Hassan Gordon, Zein Saadani-Gordon, Myra and Roland Schubert, Sarah White, Jill Wilcox, Ruth Skinner, Andrew Kear, Patrick Mahon, Juan Bello and Shannon Taylor-Jones, Gallery Coordinator of Satellite Project Space. Many thanks to Wyn Geleynse and Ron Benner for documenting the exhibitions. Thanks to Museum London, Western University and Fanshawe College for their commitment to financially support and maintain the Satellite Project Space for the presentation of community art programs in downtown London. ECH gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council, the London Arts Council and the City of London. 

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