Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) | Toronto, Ontario

The wedge Collection
Dancing in the light

September 7, 2023 — February 4, 2024

Part of The City is a Collection series

Dancing in the Light is an exhibition of portraiture drawn from The Wedge Collection. The exhibition continues MOCA Toronto’s ongoing series, The City is a Collection, which brings some of Toronto’s most engaging private collections to the public.

Featuring the work of 44 artists including Oreka James, Carrie Mae Weems, Jonathan Lyndon Chase and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Dancing in the Light examines portraiture across a variety of mediums as a way of entering into a more nuanced consideration of contemporary Black life. Rethinking moments of stillness and vulnerability as instances of strength, the exhibition works against the flattened and commodified image of Blackness so often experienced within art history and popular visual culture.

Dancing in the Light has been conceived of as a capacious place for gathering and study, offering visitors comfortable seating as well as an array of books and music with which to engage.

Established by Kenneth Montague in 1997, The Wedge Collection is one of Canada’s largest private collections of visual art that engages with Black identity and African diasporic culture. The exhibition is a testament to the vital role that Montague has played both as a collector and community-builder and a reflection of his love for art and his deeply humanistic approach to life.

Dancing in the Light has been curated and designed by Farida Abu-Bakare and Kate Wong.

Dancing in the Light, 2023. Installation view, MOCA Toronto. Courtesy of Dr. Kenneth Montague | The Wedge Collection. Photos by Laura Findlay  

About the Guest Curator
Farida Abu-Bakare is a licensed architect and esteemed Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Her geographically diverse portfolio spans North America, the Middle East and Africa, displaying her innate ability to work across a broad spectrum of scales, climates and contexts. Her work ranges from urban design interventions and civic buildings to inventive temporary pavilions and structures. 

About The Wedge Collection
The Wedge Collection was established in 1997 by Dr. Kenneth Montague. Originally conceived as a small gallery literally “wedged” inside the narrow hallways of his home, the collection now encompasses over four hundred works of art, making it one of Canada’s largest private collections focusing on African diasporic culture and contemporary Black life.

MOCA Visionaries

Gilles and Julia Ouellette | The Price Family | Anonymous

Presenting Sponsor

Bank of Montreal