The Polygon Gallery presents Star Witnesses, a group exhibition by Monika Szewczyk that assembles works by a constellation of renowned artists whose insightful observations of the cosmos bring new understandings of exploratory and migratory movements on Planet Earth. The title gestures toward each artist’s precise vision, honed at the technical limits of photography, and hints at how their work can turn viewers into powerful witnesses in turn. The found and newly produced images take inspiration from the skies while giving substance to vital, human histories: one woman’s survival in an internment camp; one man’s narrow escape from a white mob; underexposed connections between a war in the Middle East and peace in a mid-sized German town; an artist’s moment of grace on top a moonlit mountain, far from home. Each work offers the image of the cosmos as material evidence for a distinctive perspective, worldview, or imaginary — together, they attest to the fact that there is no universal way of gazing at the universe. The exhibition features Daniel Boyd, Vija Celmins, David Horvitz, Bouchra Khalili, Judy Radul, Thomas Ruff, Urban Subjects (Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen, and Helmut Weber), Carrie Mae Weems, and Paul Wong. Admission to The Polygon Gallery is by donation, courtesy of BMO Financial Group.
