“You Name It. In this exhibition title there is this polysemantic idea linked to the fact of naming, of labeling things, of giving them a place in a world and a natural order that we order according to our ideas or our vision. There is also—in the language of Toni Morrison—this notion of being spoiled for choice. For the Swiss-Haitian artist based in Zurich Sasha Huber, this title is emblematic of her work, immersed in the twists and turns of memories, identities and historical traumas.”

— Jean-François Albelda, Le Nouvelliste

“A la Ferme-Asile de Sion, l’artiste alémanique expose les traumas des passés coloniaux. Et ses efforts pour rebaptiser pics et glaciers.”

— Samuel Schellenberg, Le Courrier

“In a spectacular installation covering eight walls in two adjoining galleries at the Power Plant, French artist Abdelkader Benchamma uses blue and black ink to summon up water, rock and wind. In this vast swirling mural in which the themes from framed pieces spill out into gestures painted directly on the walls, there are small references to human history: We are insignificant in the face of an environment that we ignore at our peril.”

— Kate Taylor, Globe & Mail

“From Alaska to Brazil, Indigenous artists explore their histories and future visions.”

— Sean Foley, CBC

“But despite its Canadian resonance and residency, Boghiguian’s work—and Time of Change, in particular—stretches far beyond both The Power Plant’s walls and our national borders. Like the artist herself, the focus of the collection is nomadic in nature. Every historical figure and event represented does not exist in a cultural vacuum. A butterfly flaps its wings, and those waves reverberate across the globe. Boghiguian’s mission is to ensure these reverberations don’t go undetected, particularly in the safety of our democratic Canadian bubble. Whether it be the array of inventors and intellectuals critiqued in her piece “The Uprising” or throughlines drawn between seemingly unrelated political uprisings, Time of Change combats historical amnesia and invites us to join Boghiguian in her cultural and artistic nomadism.”

— David Stol, NUVO

“It borders on obvious to say that Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity is about pluralism of voices, but that doesn’t make the chorus any less powerful—especially as the sweeping installation, which occupies both the lower and third floors of the gallery’s north building from May 11 to Sept. 17, makes room for each individual voice to be heard.”

— Morgan Mullin, The Coast

“Yet if art has some power to sway that speeches do not it is with its emphatic physicality on the one hand and its subtle evocations on the other. One of the most pronounced artistic themes here is a play with scale, a making of little things big and big things little, which has obvious political implications as these artists assert the Indigenous presence.”

— Kate Taylor, Globe & Mail

“Bridging the Distance Between the Arctic and the Amazon.”

— Sue Carter, Inuit Art Foundation

“These are just a few examples from an intense and intensive survey highlighting an artistic practice that is inextricable from political action, community building, and collective identity-work. Though the artist is physically present and often seen in his works, he also serves as a proxy through which the complexities of Gulf War politics, refugeeism, dictatorship, and resilience can be examined in intuitive and material ways.”

— Sarah Rose Sharp, Hyperallergic

“Though critiques of the West’s destructive effects around the world are embedded in Hiwa K’s works, he avoids assigning direct blame and didacticism.Instead, he works without predetermined formulas or theories, remaining open to play, chance developments, and collaborative contributions.”

— Jill Glessing, Ciel Variable

“At the Power Plant gallery, Paulo Nazareth and Hiwa K craft metaphors for survival and resistance.”

— Kate Taylor, Globe & Mail

“The exhibition brings together works by Joiri Minaya, Ada M. Patterson, Irene de Andrés and Katherine Kennedy. Using photographs, archival images, an animated film, and a visual poem, the four artists deploy a form of counter-discourse that responds to the ideal, forged in the West, of the Caribbean as a paradisiacal space naturally made for pleasure.”

— Philippe Morin-Aubut, Quartier Libre

Tailoring Freedom, created for The Power Plant, is an act of historical repair. Huber printed the Renty and Delia daguerreotypes on wood and created textured, shimmering garments out of staples inspired by those worn by abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. The tens of thousands of staples resemble metallic thread, as Huber put it, “both stitching the colonial wound and making it visible. The wounds are still there.”

— Faith Adiele, Hyperallergic

“Transparent in its activist objectives, You Name It, curated by Noor Alé, brings together a considerable body of work departing from Swiss-American biologist and geologist Louis Agassiz, whose 19th-century research caused his namesake to be affixed to over 80 sites around the world, as well as seven animal species.”

— Neil Price, Ocula

“Activist artist renames lakes, mountains in Power Plant reopening show.”

— Kate Taylor, Globe & Mail