Not a Freak Show: Growing Up Gay in Rural Ontario
April 29, 2017 - June 25, 2017
Spencer J. Harrison’s Not a Freak Show: Growing Up Gay in Rural Ontario bears witness to the artists experience using the vernacular of the circus freak show to discuss both exclusion and inclusion. The work takes the form of a large circus tent that can be walked around and gathered within, acting as a catalyst for discourse and an assertion of presence. It is the first painted PhD in Canada and was completed in the fall of 2014 for Adult Education and Community Development at OISE, University of Toronto. Spencer J. Harrison was born in the south end of Peterborough in 1962.
This exhibition was supported by an exhibition assistance grant through the Ontario Arts Council.
Accompanying his exhibition: Not A Freak Show: Growing Up Gay in Rural Ontario, artist, educator and activist Spencer J Harrison sits down with curator Fynn Leitch to share stories and discuss his work. Videography by Matt + Steph