‘It means a lot to me’: Toronto woman finds father at AGO exhibition – Toronto | globalnews.ca

Shortly after Jeanette Robinson-Daly set foot what matters most perform on Art Gallery of Ontario, She was drawn to a very familiar face. she was gifted First The subscription fell to her mother at last, and went to see the exhibition just half an hour before the art museum closed for the night.

“I was just kind of going through every bay and I happened to see a picture of my dad,” she said.

“I was very shocked and surprised to see it. There were some young people around and I said, ‘Hey, that’s my father.’ They say, ‘Okay, whatever,’ but it means a lot to me.

Robinson-Daley says she recognized everything in the photo, which her mother took more than 50 years ago, from the apartment near Christy Pitts Park to the man holding the trumpet. He immediately called his father, Prince Robinson.

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“I said, ‘I saw your picture in the art gallery.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s you,'” Robinson-Daly said.

“He said that at that moment tears welled up in his eyes.”

The exhibit displays hundreds of photographs highlighting everyday moments of Black family life.

The Art Gallery of Ontario says all the Polaroids were lost and were discovered on the streets of North America by artist and teacher Xun Lee. Most photos were found in the US

“He began to wonder, ‘Why is it that photographs of black family life are available on the market? What are the conditions that give rise to these photographs … these singular, very poignant images of life at home. ..how are they separated from their families?'” co-curator Sophie Hackett said.

“That question is really at the heart of the exhibition.”

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Lee has been collecting thousands of photographs since 2012. The AGO team scrutinized each photo and selected 500 to be featured here. what matters most art performance. Robinson-Daly’s father was one of them.

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“It’s like a needle in a haystack. It was such a surprise, a pleasant surprise,” Hackett said.

It is believed that Robinson’s photograph was found in California. To this day, Robinson still has the Polaroid camera that captured the once-forgotten moment.

For her daughter, Robinson-Daly, it’s more than just a full-circle moment. She says the experience made her feel “seen” and strengthened their father-daughter bond.

“As adults, sometimes we grow up and we get busy with our own lives and other things… But it has brought us so much closer. It has integrated us as a family. We were able to sit and look at other Polaroids that we have and it made such a difference knowing who we are,” she said.

“Some things money can never buy, and this is one of those things.”

The exhibition runs till January 8.

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