Embodied Conversations: The Lillian and Billy Mauer Collection | Griffin Art Projects

Griffin Art Projects opens the year with a compelling exhibition, Embodied Conversations: The Lillian and Billy Mauer Collection, on view from January 31 to May 10, 2026. This presentation offers the public a rare first look at a selection of works from two influential Montreal collectors. Drawn from a collection of more than 400 works by over 300 Canadian and international artists, the exhibition brings together approximately 40 pieces that reflect the depth and diversity of artistic practices the Mauers have championed over more than four decades.

The exhibition features significant works by iconic Black American artists. Carrie Mae Weems’s You Became a Scientific Profile reclaims historical photographs originally commissioned to support racist theories, while Lorna Simpson’s photographic diptych Outline pairs text and imagery to evoke the lived Black experience. Also featured are Lorraine O’Grady’s Art Is… photographs from the 1983 African-American Day Parade in Harlem, which invited public participation in the art-making process.

Visitors are also invited to join a special guided tour of the exhibition with Vancouver-based photographer and film/video artist Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez. Centered on themes of portraiture, identity, and the politics of representation, the tour will explore works by artists including Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Shirin Neshat, Frances Stark, and Lorraine O’Grady. Drawing connections across the exhibition, Reyes Rodriguez will frame the collection as an evolving inquiry into how art constructs subjectivity and shapes our understanding of the social world.

For more information, visit https://www.griffinartprojects.ca/events/capture-festival-x-griffin-art-projects-featured-tour