The Power Plant

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is delighted to announce our upcoming exhibition season with two solo presentations by artists Fatimah Tuggar and Emmanuel Osahor. Through immersive installations that use either traditional mediums or interactive new technologies, both artists consider the fragility, solace, and promise of the natural world. Osahor’s large-scale painting environment invites visitors to contemplate beauty in the seclusion of a night garden, while Tuggar’s thought-provoking reflections on the historical, current and imagined uses of the calabash gourd ask us to contemplate other possible futures. The exhibitions will run from April 11 to September 7, 2025. Admission is free.

“With this upcoming season, spanning from spring to fall, we are thrilled to present two exhibitions that invite us to consider the abundance of beauty, hope and inspiration that nature provides even in the most difficult of times. The work of these two accomplished artists will, without doubt, resonate with our audiences at a moment when the promise of spring turns into the profusion of summer.”
—Adelina Vlas, Head of Curatorial Affairs

The new exhibition season will be animated by engaging, free public programs, including thematic talks, workshops, and tours. We’re also excited to welcome families and kids aged 7–12 for an engaging new series of creative Power Kids workshops on select Sundays. Visit The Power Plant’s Event Calendar on our website for programming details.

Fatimah Tuggar: Light Cream Pods
Curator: Frances Loeffler, Curator of Exhibitions

Light Cream Pods is a new exhibition by Fatimah Tuggar that uses the calabash as a metaphor for and container of ideas. Using augmented reality, artificial intelligence and animatronic sculptures, the exhibition offers interactive encounters that reflect on the meanings, uses, and possible futures of this culturally significant fruit, set within architectural facades inspired by the Tubali vernacular design of the Hausa people of the Sahel region of the African continent. Known for its versatility, the decorated pods of the calabash can be used for a wide variety of utilitarian and aesthetic purposes. However, its associated crafts and economies are currently under threat as indigenous customs are displaced by global commodification, petrochemical pollution, and poisonous plastics. Light Cream Pods examines this situation through a multi-layered approach that sees centuries-old traditions sitting alongside new technologies. Tuggar introduces the strategies and technologies of the calabash as a solution to some of the most urgent environmental, technological, and cultural challenges of our time and a radical prompt to imagine other, possible futures.

Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, co-produced with The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada, with the support of the University of Florida School of Art + Art History, USA. Courtesy of BintaZarah Studios.

Emmanuel Osahor: To dream of other places
Curator: Adelina Vlas, Head of Curatorial Affairs

Toronto-based artist Emmanuel Osahor’s practice focuses on beauty as a necessity for survival, respite, and sanctuary. Known primarily for his paintings of lush, verdant gardenscapes—inspired by real and imagined locations—these works meditate upon the complicated histories of these sites that entail the domestication of lands, plants, and individuals alike. To dream of other places is the artist’s first major solo presentation in his home city of Toronto and includes paintings, drawings, prints, ceramic sculptures, and a new, site-specific photographic wallpaper. Conceived as a night garden, the exhibition presents Osahor’s work in a unique environment intended to immerse the viewer in a contemplative space where feelings of delight and sorrow coexist as reflections of human experience. The artist’s poetic yet critical approach to a subject that has been well represented throughout art history reflects a practice that is profoundly engaged with beauty, painting, and the everyday at a time when meaningful encounters with art are needed more than ever.

Save the Date
Press Preview: Thursday, April 10, 2 PM–4 PM
Public Opening: Thursday, April 10, 8 PM–11 PM

About The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is Canada’s leading public gallery devoted to contemporary art, ideas, and conversations. Located at Harbourfront Centre on Toronto’s waterfront, The Power Plant is a vital forum for the creative culture of our time, sharing inspiring and transformative experiences with audiences through free admission to exhibitions and public programs. The Power Plant is guided by the commitment to provide a platform for artists from diverse backgrounds, drawing attention to pressing issues and connecting communities in Canada and worldwide through contemporary art.