I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces at AGO

Years in the making, “I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces” captures the human need to document and share our day-to-day experiences. It shows off what the AGO does best — creating points of human connection with the viewer. From home movies (pre-digital), to paintings, music and ephemera (grocery lists, even), the vast array of pieces creates a sensory-rich exhibition that delves deep into the life of the artist (and all of us).

The show considers how we see and present ourselves to others and our seemingly inherent need to do so. When these pieces are appreciated as art, questions arise as to What is art? and Does it really matter? “What matters most is how that impulse has found expression. No one could have predicted how actively and hyperactively we document it,” says the AGO’s Jim Shedden, who, along with co-curators Alexa Greist and R. Fraser Elliott, took inspiration from themes that emerged organically: home, family, food, dance, protest, and streets (road trips). Included in the show are a rarely exhibited painting by David Hockney, a box from Andy Warhol’s Time Capsule (he kept boxes of literally everything from 1974 until his death in 1987), and works by iconic Indigenous and Canadian artists, including Annie Pootoogook, Mary Pratt and Jack Chambers.

“I AM HERE” runs April 13 to August 14, 2022 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. AGO.CA

Note: some video contains violent content that may be disturbing for some viewers.