Portraits of 1,000 Canadian women were on display in Toronto this week as part of French photographer Pierre Maraval's "human landscape" project — a network of individuals linked together by their passion and creativity.
Part of the Luminato Festival of Arts and Creativity, the Mille Femmes exhibit featured women from a wide range of fields, such as the visual arts, music, dance, theatre, journalism and many more.
Commissioned by Luminato and co-produced with Lancôme, a brand of L'Oréal, the display ran from June 9-15 at the Albert Lambert Galleria in Toronto's Brookfield Place.
"Our goal was to bring together 1,000 women who have inspired and created all the wonderful art that we have here in Toronto," said Jill Liston, coordinator of the L'Oréal Academy whose work on the exhibit gave her the opportunity to be featured as a creative woman.
"I had the honour to meet the most incredible women in Toronto," added Liston, who was particularly impressed by the women's "passion and incredible strength."
The exhibit features women who are established in their field, such as former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, veteran actress Jackie Burroughs and fashion designer Pat McDonagh, as well as many newly emerging artists who have been nominated by their more established peers.
Recent graduate Cerelia Tsui was invited by her art professor to participate. Tsui, whose work as a visual artist includes working with installations, was excited to have the opportunity to be part of the exhibit.
"It's pretty cool. I'm being recognized. It's a very good feeling"
While this is a first for Toronto, Mille Femmes is part of a wider project for Maraval whose first exhibit of 1,000 women was displayed in Paris, France in 1993. Since then, he has gone on to hold various other 1,000-portrait exhibits of local faces in other cities including Marseilles, Havana and Montreal.
Maraval's goal is to gather a collection of 10,000 women in the next 3-5 years. His future destinations include Tokyo, Japan and São Paolo, Brazil.
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