Brobdingnagian

Brobdingnagian is a solo exhibition of new photocollages by Toronto-based artist Aaron Jones. Made from magazine clippings, advertisements, newspapers, as well as personal photos, this body of work is inspired by a series of expeditions through forests and rural landscapes that have expanded Jones’ botanical knowledge and understanding of self in relation to the Southern Ontario landscape.

Jones’ exhibition references Jonathan Swift’s satirical novel Gulliver’s Travels of 1726 in which the protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, visits the land of Brobdingnag after his ship is blown off course. Brobdingnag is a fictional land occupied by giants and the adjective “Brobdingnagian” has come to describe anything of colossal size.

For Jones, the act of collage-making is part of a journey of self-discovery; to see one’s self separate from the stereotypical constructions of people and places in media. In previous work, Jones focused on the body’s nuanced performative potential. By using collage Jones denies and shifts the images from their original meaning to explore ideas of the self and make visible how conflicting realities are constructed and imagined. This exhibition intends to situate collaged characters and figures that represent the self in environments in which Jones grew up around and yearns to know more of.

Please note this exhibition is wheelchair accessible during gallery hours via a freight elevator that can be accessed from the back of the building.