TORONTO — Shimmering with color and sound, Sonia Boyce’s Feeling Her Way at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) feels both expansive and enveloping. Originally presented at the 2022 Venice Biennale’s British Pavilion, Feeling Her Way continues the artist’s interest in multi-sensory art and her attention to Black women artists; born in 1962 in London, Boyce helped pioneer the 1980s British Black Arts Movement, along with such artists as Lubaina Himid and Claudette Johnson. For the AGO iteration of this show, two gallery spaces are wallpapered with metallic and multicolored patterns and suspended geometric sculptures, along with music memorabilia, and equipped with mirrored seating in irregular shapes, like silvery icebergs floating on the floors.
The atmosphere, which evokes the aesthetics of Afrofuturism and dance clubs, sets the stage for videos of four Black British women musicians — Jacqui Dankworth MBE, Poppy Ajudha, Sofia Jernberg, and Tanita Tikaram — recorded at Abbey Road studios in London. The most captivating part of the show is the first room, where videos of the singers on four screens create a cacophony of sound that still manages to find harmony. A few more screens in the next gallery allow the soundtrack to swell throughout the spaces; watching each singer perform engenders a sense of intimacy, as if we’re privy to their private studio sessions, and a glimpse into their artistic processes.
The show exemplifies Boyce’s collaborative instincts and openness to spontaneity and improvisation; in an interview last October, she explained that the singers had just met and the videos show the first 20 minutes of the performances, without rehearsals. (Exhibition texts note that they were guided with vocal exercises by composer Errollyn Wallen.) It’s also a warm homage to her collaborators, shifting the focus from Boyce herself as creator to the vocalists, as both stars of the show and artistic producers.
The explosion of color and sound is a buzzing enclave of energy tucked within a relatively staid museum, yet in its alcove-like space, the show is more compact than I had expected. At the same time, it’s not removed enough from the rest of the museum to foster a full sense of immersion. Considering Boyce’s stature as an artist (including the British DBE title), Feeling Her Way deserves larger gallery spaces and perhaps even more maximalism; viewers should feel like they’re entering a different world within the AGO. This is not to dismiss the show’s artistic merits or sensory pleasures — Boyce has beautifully visualized the dynamism of the audio with her vibrant surroundings — yet amid the hardwood floors and bright lighting, the awareness of being in a gallery inside a museum is never quite erased. Feeling Her Way is well worth seeing, above all for the collaborative spirit among five Black women artists. But given the kaleidoscopic nature of Boyce’s universe, the next version ought to transport visitors all the way there.
Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way continues at the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Canada) through April 6. The exhibition was organized by the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art and curated by Dominique Fontaine and Miguel A. López, with Curatorial Assistant Emilie Croning.
