March Updates with the Embassy Cultural House!

3/25/2024

Happy spring ECH community! It has been a strange turn of weather events as we approach the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Make sure to secure your ISO certified eclipse glasses from your local public library or from The Monarch Butterfly Eclipse Project.

Our work continues on the forthcoming ECH anthology, An Alternative Cultural History of London, Ontario: Art and Activism, which includes over 20 contributors from London, Ontario, and abroad.

RI 9 Space of Memory, Corrientes, Argentina
by Dot Tuer and Alberto Gomez

The commission for the RI-9 Space of Memory, June 2, 2023, for a book launch in the Casino. Photo courtesy of Alberto Gomez.

For many years ECH contributor Alberto Gomez has worked with a group of human rights activists to establish the RI 9 Space of Memory, a memory site and cultural centre in Corrientes, Argentina. A former political prisoner and survivor of Argentina’s military dictatorship, Gomez is a core member of the Commission for the Promotion of the RI 9 Space of Memory, founded in 2017, and key negotiator for securing official state recognition of the RI 9 Space of Memory in 2022. His creative collaborator and partner Dot Tuer has documented many of the events held in the Space of Memory. In their article, recently featured in the newest ECH tabloid, Tuer and Gomez tell the story of and pay tribute to the struggle of human rights activists and the survivors and families of victims of state terror in Corrientes to realize the RI 9 Space of Memory.

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**Soheila Esfahani featured on Art Lives Episode 2**

Contemporary artist Soheila Esfahani explores themes of transition, translation, and transformation in this episode of Art Lives, focusing on her recent installation, Cultured Pallets at the Aga Khan Museum (2023). Join Esfahani as she guides you through an in-depth exploration of the installation's inception, its intricate painting process, innovative laser-cutting techniques, and placement within the Aga Khan Permanent Collection Gallery. Esfahani discusses her captivating journey from Iran to Canada, offering insight into her process and the inspiration she encounters within the “in-between.”

Produced in partnership with TVO, Art Lives is a short docuseries that offers an intimate look into the working practices and conceptual approaches of individual living art practitioners connected to the Middle East, North Africa, South and Central Asia, and Ontario, Canada. The series goes behind-the-scenes, illuminating the personal stories that drive their creative processes. Learn more at the Aga Khan website.

“A Community of Trees" Now Online!

Roland Schubert, “Bowen Island," 2021

Though it is not widespread knowledge, trees have the ability to communicate with each other through a variety of means. Their elaborate root systems contain fungi, which can send messages to nearby connected trees to warn of dangers or other predators. Just as humans function best when working together as a collective and a community, trees are best able to thrive when they are a part of a forest, connected to other trees.

A Community of Trees is an Embassy Cultural House online exhibition that highlights the versatility of trees' existence and how they are an important and essential part of the ecosystem.

This exhibition has been curated by ECH Contributing Editor Emmy Meredith, with the assistance of ECH Curatorial Advisors Ron Benner and Jamelie Hassan. Contributors to the exhibition include Maria Awaraji, José Bedia, Ron Benner, Marlene Creates, Patricia Deadman, Selwyn Dewdney, Richelle Forsey, Alexis Green, Jamelie Hassan, Fern Helfand, Lisa Hirmer, Penn Kemp, Miriam Love, Don McKay, Emmy Meredith, Catherine Morrisey, David Merritt, Olivia Mossuto, Monica Joy, Judith Rodger, Roland Schubert, Ashley Snook, Heather Steinhagen, Diana Tamblyn, and Larry Towell. View the full exhibition on the ECH website.

14th Annual UPwithART: Tickets Now On Sale!

The Embassy Cultural House is once again proud to support UPwithART's art party and silent auction in support of the Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness and Museum London. Get ready for the fundraising event of the season! Grab your tickets for the 14th annual UPwithART event on May 4 at Museum London.

Show your love for Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness and Museum London by buying a Supporter Ticket $60, or level up your support with a Premium Ticket $160 (includes two drink tickets and an $80 charitable tax receipt).All attendees can enjoy:

🎨 60+ artworks on auction
🚲New auction lots (experiences, a bike, quilts, and more)
🏆 Door prize
🛍️ Limited edition tote bag
🎙DJ and poetry performances
🧶 Interactive quilting activity
🍸 Bar and h’ors d'oeuvres
📸 Photo booth
🤗 Funds raised support both Museum London and the Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness

Support for UPwithArt opens more doors than you could imagine. From helping those who are struggling to escape homelessness to obtain housing, to funding programming that makes art and history freely accessible to all – your participation transforms hope into reality.

The art auction goes live online starting April 25 at 7 pm. Bid on the art you love from a stellar roster of renowned and emerging artists, alongside artworks by Unity Project participants, and historical and contemporary works donated by notable London area collectors. View the art online at UPwithART.

Excited to view the art in person? Visit Museum London (admission is free) from April 26 to May 3 for a sneak peek! For more information, please visit the UPwithArt website.

Get your tickets now!

Ontario Art Council and Arts for all Ontarians

What do the arts in Ontario look like, sound like, feel like? The Ontario Arts Council has aimed to provide an answer in just 60 seconds, with Arts for All Ontarians – a video that provides a whirlwind tour of what Ontario Arts Council (OAC) funding has helped make possible since its founding in 1963. Featuring grant recipients from across the province and the decades, the video is a highlight reel of how OAC’s investments have benefited Ontario’s communities, economy, quality of life and identity as a province. To learn more about the artists, organizations and projects featured in the video, visit the OAC website.

The Embassy Cultural House gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council for their generous funding of ECH projects and programs.

Embassy Cultural House supports Writing With Light

Writing With Light is a group of individuals and organizations that advocate for authenticity and credibility in nonfiction photography. The standards provided by Writing With Light (or ones inspired by them) will be widely adopted by individuals and news organizations, and that they will help lead to a larger discussion on the integrity and future of visual journalism. Thank you to ECH contributor and Magnum photographer Larry Towell for connecting ECH to this very important initiative. Attached below is Writing With Light's statement of principles. For more information, visit the Writing With Light website.

**Shelley Niro: silent, moving, waiting, LOUD at Stephen Bulger Gallery**

Shelley Niro, “Raven at Night," 2022

Stephen Bulger Gallery presents silent, waiting, moving, LOUD, their first solo exhibition of work by Shelley Niro (b. 1954, Niagara Falls, New York, USA). Niro is a member of the Turtle Clan of the Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory. This exhibition is concurrent with her major retrospective organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Hamilton (on view from February 10 until May 26, 2024) with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, New York, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; this travelling exhibition will also appear at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Remai Modern, Saskatoon. For more information, please visit the Stephen Bulgur Gallery website.

Relevant and Related Links

From the National Gallery of Canada Magazine: "Mona Hatoum: Uncanny Space" by Amin Alsaden
Closed Conservation Area Report by Kee Dewdney (1941-2024): "Newport Forest"
From Hyperallergic: "Yong Soon Min, Intrepid Korean-American Artist, Dies at 70" by Sigourney Shultz
From CBC London: "London Community Foundation mourns death of former CEO" by Angela McInnes
From Vox: "The total solar eclipse is returning to the United States — better than before" by Brian Resnick
From Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO): Call for Submissions: The Gathering Divergence Spring 2024
From The Guardian: "Authors withdraw from PEN America festival in protest over Israel-Gaza war" by Richard Luscombe
Now online on London Tourism Canada: "Embassy at Nite, 417 English Street, London, Ontario"
From Food Tank: "Mexico’s Precaution on GM Corn Safety Is Justified" by Elena Seeley

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