Doris McCarthy Gallery (DMG) at University of Toronto Scarborough

Doris McCarthy Gallery (DMG) at University of Toronto Scarborough The Doris McCarthy Gallery is a visionary professional art gallery dedicated to the collection, presentation and dissemination of contemporary art.

The Doris McCarthy Gallery is excited to announce our upcoming fall exhibition 'Cartographies of Longing'! The exhibitio...
08/19/2026

The Doris McCarthy Gallery is excited to announce our upcoming fall exhibition 'Cartographies of Longing'! The exhibition opens on September 15, with a public reception to follow on Saturday, September 19, 2 - 4 pm.

'Cartographies of Longing' presents works by Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich, Nour Bishouty, Amanda Boulos, Deanna Bowen, Christian Chapman, Meryl McMaster, Arthur Shilling, Travis Shilling, and Shellie Zhang, whose practices draw upon family histories, oral traditions, and archival fragments to map intergenerational relationships to land. The artists create space to imagine new relationships with the lands they remember and inhabit, and longing becomes a generative force that restores memory and sustains cultural continuity.

🎉 Public opening reception
🗓️Saturday, September 19 from 2 - 4 pm
🎤Curator Sandy Saad-Smith will deliver remarks at 3 pm

🔗 For more information: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/cartographies-of-longing

'Cartographies of Longing' runs September 15 - December 5, 2026, at the Doris McCarthy Gallery. Supported by Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, and Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto.

'tĂłkĹĄa | I Will See You Again' is now open in the Instructional Centre atrium! Curated by Caitlyn Bird, this exhibition ...
08/18/2026

'tĂłkĹĄa | I Will See You Again' is now open in the Instructional Centre atrium! Curated by Caitlyn Bird, this exhibition brings together beaded works and cyanotype photographs by Oglala Lakota artist Jaida Grey Eagle that reflect her relationship to land, culture, and storytelling.

Grounded in lived experience, and motivated to reclaim visual sovereignty, Grey Eagle overrides a long history of photographic misrepresentation of Lakota communities. Through the making and presentation of her work, Grey Eagle connects to the land and honours the enduring legacy of her ancestors.

The exhibition takes its title from the Lakota word tĂłkĹĄa, meaning "I will see you again." Rather than saying goodbye, the phrase expresses the expectation of return, not only as a physical act, but an ongoing process of remembering, reconnecting, and reclamation. The land remembers Grey Eagle as much as she remembers it.

'tĂłkĹĄa | I Will See You Again' runs to July 31, 2027 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough. Supported by Toronto Arts Council () and Canada Council for the Arts (.council).

🔗 For more information: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/toksa

The Doris McCarthy Gallery has invited Sheniz Janmohamed to respond to our upcoming fall exhibition, 'Cartographies of L...
08/14/2026

The Doris McCarthy Gallery has invited Sheniz Janmohamed to respond to our upcoming fall exhibition, 'Cartographies of Longing', as Poet-in-Residence. Drawing on her creative practice as a writer, artist, educator, and certified Forest Bathing Guide, Janmohamed will develop programming that expands on and contextualizes the exhibition. This will include a series exploring the works of the exhibiting artists through guided prompts and reflections, poetry writing, and nature reconnection activities. Programs will be announced as they develop, stay tuned!

This residency is part of and supported by the U of T Scarborough Year of Poetry.

To learn more about the residency: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/residencies/sheniz-janmohamed

Sheniz Janmohamed grew up just outside Toronto and has ancestral ties to Kenya and India. A graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph, she has been performing her poetry for 15 years, including features at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Aga Khan Museum, and Vancouver Writers Fest. She has three collections of poetry, published by Mawenzi House: 'Bleeding Light' (2010), 'Firesmoke' (2014) and 'Reminders on the Path' (2021). Her land art has been featured across Turtle Island, including the National Arts Centre, MOCA and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. Janmohamed is a certified Forest Bathing Guide, working to promote well-being, nature connection and pro-environmental attitudes across communities in the GTA.

For an advance experience of Janmohamed's practice, registration is now open for a family-friendly Forest Bathing Walk she is facilitating in Scarborough on August 22, presented by Ontario Land Trust and Culture Link. For more details and to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeS50eQUsu_BBj2ryeqxHTiACHDhen6YBVfXbQUML11o3cwvw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Photo by Eva Tsai. Image description in alt text.

As the final highlight in our series about works in the exhibition ‘Back to the Land’, today we are looking at ‘Rag Rugs...
07/31/2026

As the final highlight in our series about works in the exhibition ‘Back to the Land’, today we are looking at ‘Rag Rugs: Colours of our Campus,’ created by U of T Scarborough students in a workshop with artist Deborah Livingston-Lowe.

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk and offered through UTSC’s Certificate in Sustainability. Built into the course were a series of workshops that promoted experiential learning through the creation of collective artworks. ‘Back to the Land’ asks us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as an embodied way of being in the world.

Artist Deborah Livingston-Lowe led students through a rug-making workshop using recycled textiles. Given the prompt to reflect on the colours of our campus, students gathered materials from the U of T Scarborough community through conversations, donation drives, and outreach. Contributors were asked to reflect on their relationship to the garment, what it might say if it could speak, and how they felt about its repurposing. Woven together, these stories form rugs that illuminate the environmental impact of textiles while celebrating the value of reuse. They are shared narratives, threads linking people, place, and material life across our campus community.

Deborah Livingston-Lowe has been involved in many aspects of textiles, both practical and academic, for 30 years. Her early interest in handloom weaving and spinning grew into historic weaving, research, textile conservation, and restoration. Her work in textiles continues to be multidisciplinary as she works with designers to create textiles for fashion and interiors, with museums to reproduce textiles and provide consultation for their collection, and conducts research into the production and consumption of hand-woven cloth in 19th century Ontario.

‘Back to the Land’ runs to July 31, 2026 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough.

https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

We are taking a closer look at indigo-dyed batik textiles created by U of T Scarborough students in a workshop with Anny...
07/29/2026

We are taking a closer look at indigo-dyed batik textiles created by U of T Scarborough students in a workshop with Anny Min He, as part of our series highlighting works in the exhibition 'Back to the Land'.

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk and offered through UTSC’s Certificate in Sustainability. Built into the course were a series of workshops that promoted experiential learning through the creation of collective artworks. ‘Back to the Land’ asks us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as an embodied way of being in the world.

Through a workshop led by Anny Min He, students were introduced to Miao batik, a wax-resist dyeing technique from Guizhou, China that dates back to the Qin and Han dynasties. Listed as National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Miao batik is rooted in local traditions and features symbolic motifs passed across generations. Drawing with molten wax, dyeing with indigo, and reflecting on the cultural and ecological dimensions of craft, students explored the ways cultural textile practices carry stories of land, identity, and belonging. These textiles embody the course’s emphasis on sensory, affective, and intercultural ways of knowing, and highlighting the ways making connects learners to diverse traditions of care, place, and sustainability.

Anny Min He is an artist and co-founder of the organization SlowMaking which “inspires intercultural connections and a slow, sustainable way of life through authentic storytelling, products, and experiences that centre around heritage crafts.”

‘Back to the Land’ runs to July 31, 2026 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough.

https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

LAST WEEK! Just a few days remain to see 'Back to the Land' in the University of Toronto Scarborough Instructional Centr...
07/28/2026

LAST WEEK! Just a few days remain to see 'Back to the Land' in the University of Toronto Scarborough Instructional Centre atrium, before it closes this Friday, July 31.

🌱 The exhibition brings works produced by students during the 2023 - 2025 cohort of the U of T Scarborough Environmental Studies course 'Back to the Land' into conversation with works by Ruth Cuthand, Lisa Myers, and Outdoor School from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery.

The course, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk, invites students to explore the meaning and practice of sustainability, not only as a policy goal or scientific concept, but as a lived, felt, and relational way of engaging with the world. The works created in class—many through hands-on workshops with artists such as Liam Blackburn, Shannon Gerard, Deborah Livingston-Lowe, Anny Min He, and Mariela Rojas Farias—reflect the ways hands-on engagement can create new pathways for understanding sustainability and for imagining more just, caring futures. The works selected from the Collection expand this inquiry outward, considering the interconnectedness between culture, community, history, and land.

Together, these works invite us to consider how we come to know place: through the body, narrative, imagination, and through the relationships we cultivate with land. Through engagement with works created by both emerging makers and established artists, 'Back to the Land' offers a space to envision futures shaped by reciprocity, humility, and an ethic of care.

🔗 https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

Installation view, ‘Back to the Land’, photo by Toni Hafkenscheid. Image descriptions in alt text.

🍄 Today we’re looking at the work of Outdoor School, as part of our series highlighting the current exhibition ‘Back to ...
07/27/2026

🍄 Today we’re looking at the work of Outdoor School, as part of our series highlighting the current exhibition ‘Back to the Land.’

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the U of T Scarborough Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk and offered through U of T Scarborough's Certificate in Sustainability. Together, these works ask us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as a way of being in the world, and to envision futures shaped by reciprocity, humility, and an ethic of care.

Presented in the exhibition is photo-documentation of ‘Mushroom Foray’—a unique addition to the Doris McCarthy Gallery collection donated by Outdoor School (Amish Morrell and Diane Borsato) in 2024 as a recurring participatory performance and archive. Every fall, the DMG presents the foray, inviting participants to explore the Highland Creek Valley, gather wild mushrooms and local plants, and study them with a rotating cast of experts and collaborators. We explore their linguistic, historical, edible, ecological, and medicinal properties while celebrating the surrounding natural environment. Stay tuned for the next edition of the foray in September 2026!

Outdoor School is an ongoing collaborative platform for environmental art and education, producing projects with artists, farmers, scientists, activists, and others. Led by curator Amish Morrell and visual artist Diane Borsato, the initiative has generated exhibitions, performances, guided walks, residencies, and publications.

‘Back to the Land’ runs to July 31, 2026 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough. For more information: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

As part of our series highlighting works in the exhibition ‘Back to the Land’, today we are looking at ‘Colours of the C...
07/22/2026

As part of our series highlighting works in the exhibition ‘Back to the Land’, today we are looking at ‘Colours of the Campus: Lake Pigments and Place-Belonging,’ created by U of T Scarborough students in a workshop with artist Liam Blackburn.

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk. Built into the course were a series of workshops that promoted experiential learning through the creation of collective artworks. ‘Back to the Land’ asks us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as an embodied way of being in the world.

This collection of pigments grew from a workshop led by artist and professional dyer Liam Blackburn, who introduced students to the chemistry and history of lake pigments—paints made by binding plant-based dyes to mineral salts. Using plants gathered on campus, students transformed natural dyes into watercolour pigments, exploring how colour carries the traces of place, ecology, and material processes. Students then used these pigments to create handprints and hand-drawn outlines, marking their presence and locating themselves within the campus landscape. Through touch, colour, and creative making, they discovered what it means to learn with plants, pigments, place, and community. The installation in ‘Back to the Land‘ also features dried plants and a selection of tools used in the process.

A graduate of the sculpture program at OCAD U, Blackburn has experience in a diverse range of materials and processes. Often working in a research-type art practice, Liam is very drawn to exploring the colours that can be drawn out of the local environment. Foraging for local dyes and pigments is a specialty of his practice, and the 'unknown' element of this kind of exploration is one of the things that draws him to the activity.

‘Back to the Land’ runs to July 31, 2026 in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough. For more info: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

Join us on July 22 as Summer Artist-in-Residence Kwame Delfish opens the door to community! Kwame will share the work he...
07/20/2026

Join us on July 22 as Summer Artist-in-Residence Kwame Delfish opens the door to community! Kwame will share the work he's been developing through the residency and connect with visitors through conversation, answering questions and discussing his process and projects. Drop by anytime between 12 and 6 pm—everyone is welcome, no registration required.

🗓️ Wednesday July 22 | 12 – 6 pm
📍Doris McCarthy Gallery
☕️ Light refreshments offered

Scarborough-based multidisciplinary artist Kwame Delfish’s practice centres on amplifying overlooked and untold narratives. Working independently and through his creative agency, The Blak Brush, he engages a range of mediums, including artistic direction, storytelling, painting, hairstyling, and graphic design. His work explores the intersections of culture, identity, and community, fostering dialogue and transformative engagement.

During his residency at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, from May to July 2026, he is activating the gallery as his studio space—with a focus on his painting practice—and creating opportunities to connect with student and public audiences.

For more information on the open studio programs and residency: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/programming/events-programs/open-studio-with-kwame-delfish

We’re taking a closer look today at ‘Blueprints: Garden River’ by Lisa Myers, as part of our series highlighting works i...
07/15/2026

We’re taking a closer look today at ‘Blueprints: Garden River’ by Lisa Myers, as part of our series highlighting works in the exhibition ‘Back to the Land.’

'Back to the Land' brings works from the Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery into conversation with works produced by the students in the U of T Scarborough Environmental Studies course ESTB03: Back to the Land, designed by Dr. Nicole Klenk. Together, these works ask us to consider sustainability not merely as a set of practices, but as a way of being in the world, and to envision futures shaped by reciprocity, humility, and an ethic of care.

In August 2009, Lisa Myers and her cousins walked 250 kilometers from Sault Ste Marie to the town of Espanola, retracing the journey their grandfather, Vance Essaunce, had undertaken as a young boy fleeing the Shingwauk Residential School. An artist with Anishinaabe connections to Shawanaga and Beausoleil First Nations, Myers engages her family history as a means of addressing contemporary Indigenous experiences.

In Myers’ ‘Blueprints’ series, she creates maps of the landscape that she walked in her grandfather’s footsteps. Myers critiques the systems through which land is commonly visualized and understood by referencing digital cartographies such as Google Maps, but rendering them in blueberry pigment. Resisting settler spatial logistics that insist on precision, this pigment maps its own forms and produces organic impressions. Her maps foreground Indigenous ways of knowing place, reminding us that settler conceptions of space in so-called Canada are deeply indebted to Indigenous cartographies frequently rendered invisible.

'Back to the Land' is on view in the Instructional Centre atrium at U of T Scarborough to July 31, 2026. For more info: https://dorismccarthygallery.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/back-to-the-land

Image: Lisa Myers, ‘Blueprints: Garden River,’ 2015. Blueberry pigment, serigraph on archival paper. Collection of the Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough. Funded by the Office of the Vice-President and Principal, University of Toronto Scarborough, 2019, through the course: VPSC51: Curatorial Perspectives II.

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