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About

Donovan’s interest in issues related to agency and identity, and the social conditions that influence them, continues in this new series of work. The entanglement of the past with the present, and the ways in which gender roles and identity are shaped by familial and social milieus, is the particular focus of this body of work.

In expressing ideas about the influence of the past on the present, Donovan refers to Simon Critchley’s assertion that, “We might think we’re done with the past, but the past isn’t done with us”,1 Thus, what is absorbed and internalized in childhood is spoken and performed, consciously and unconsciously, in adulthood.

Donovan explores this in her series of paintings on Mylar that traces a variety of influences that contribute to self-image and socially prescribed gender roles for girls and young women. Accompanying these are paintings highlighting the performance, negotiation, and blurring of gender roles in the domestic sphere. The contested site of domesticity is further explored in Donovan’s assemblages of feminized toys.

1 Simon Critchley, Tragedy, The Greeks, And Us (Pantheon Books 2019), pg.1

Teri Donovan is a Toronto-based artist. She holds a Fine Arts degree from York University and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. She also studied at The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, the Ontario College of Art and Design, and the Toronto School of Art. She is currently represented by The Red Head Gallery, Toronto.

In addition to The Red Head Gallery, Donovan’s work has been exhibited at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; Hermes Gallery, Halifax; Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton; The Latcham Gallery, Stouffville; ARC Gallery, Chicago; and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. She was also featured in Carte Blanche Vol.2: Painting, a Survey of Contemporary Painting in Canada.