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Erika DeFreitas is a Toronto-based artist who works in textiles, performance and photography. Through a postcolonial lens, she explores language, cultural loss and identity politics and places emphasis on process, the gesture and documentation. She has recently been awarded the 2016 Finalist Artist Prize from the Toronto Friends of Visual Arts and the 2016 John Hartman Award from the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, ON. She earned a Master of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto (2008) ; a Bachelor of Education from York University (2004) and a Bachelor of Art and Art History from the University of Toronto (2003). DeFreitas was artist-in-residence at Alice Yard, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (2017; Also As Well Too, Winnipeg, MB (2015); and Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA), Winnipeg, MB (2010). Her work can be found in many permanent collections, including Wedge Curatorial Projects ; Hart House Permanent Collection ; Feminist Art Gallery (F.A.G.) ; Canada Council Art Bank ; and TD Canada Trust Art Collection . DeFreitas is the recipient of several municipal, provincial and federal awards and grants from the Toronto Friends of Visual Arts , the Toronto Arts Council , the Ontario Arts Council , and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Erika DeFreitas' work has been exhibited in Canada and the United States of America.

Solo Exhibitions
2017    Like a conjuring (bringing water back to Bradley), The Anchorage Bradley Museums, Mississauga, ON.

2016    ; it was in the air, as they say, Gallery 44, Toronto, ON.

2015    The Work of Mourning, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON.

2013    Deaths/Memorials/Births, Centre for Print and Media Arts, Hamilton, ON.

2009    In The Bedroom Series, Gallery 44, Toronto, ON.

2008    Deaths/Memorials/Births, Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, Winnipeg, MB.

Group Exhibitions
(Two person exhibitions *)

2017
 * Migrating the Margins, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, ON.
 * The Inhabitants of Space in General, Open Studio, Toronto, ON.
 * All That is Left Unsaid/at the very point where words fail us, Centre for Print and Media Arts, Hamilton, ON.*
 * Position As Desired: Exploring African Canadian Identity, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON.

2016
 * My tongue was tied, Xpace Gallery, Toronto, ON. (performance)
 * Enraged, Inertia ran off, Parkette at James and Wilson, Hamilton, ON.
 * Unfixed  Homeland, Aljira, Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ.
 * At the Seams, Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Grimsby, ON.
 * A Rehearsal for Objects Lie on a Table, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Toronto, ON.
 * Black Future Toronto 2116, Daniels Spectrum, Toronto, ON.
 * Art Souterrain 2016, Palais des Congres, Montreal, QC.

2015
 * Ontario in Âjagemô, Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, ON.
 * HOTBED, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON.
 * The One and the Many: A Self-portrait in Seven Parts, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX.

2014
 * Stranger Than Fiction, Pollock Gallery at the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.
 * WE WON’T COMPETE, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON.
 * Face Value, Gallery 1313, Toronto, ON.

2013
 * The boat is a floating piece of space, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX.

2012
 * unseen SEEN, Studio 42, Toronto, ON.
 * New Faces: Portraits from the Collection of the Canada Council Art Bank, Jardins de Metis - Reford Gardens Estevan, QC.

2011
 * This Woman’s Work…, Project Space, Hamilton, ON.
 * Eccentricities, The Paper Mill Gallery, Toronto, ON.
 * Here and There, Propeller Centre for Visual Arts, Toronto, ON.

2010
 * Feminist Research Performance Project (in collaboration with Leena Raudvee), XPACE, Toronto, ON.
 * Do You See What I Mean? Voyez-vous ce que je veux dire? Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, ON.
 * The Trans-Cultural: Women in Performance, CWSE, OISE/University of Toronto.
 * Around the Frayed Edges, Agnes Jamieson Gallery, Minden, ON.

2009
 * DIASPORArt: Strategy and Seduction by Canadian Artists from Culturally Diverse Communities in works from the collection of the Canada Council Art Bank, Rideau Hall, Ottawa, ON.

2008
 * MVS Graduating Exhibition, The University of Toronto Art Centre, Toronto, ON.
 * Toronto Alternative Arts & Fashion Week, The Distillery District, Toronto, ON.

2007
 * Fleeting Face, A Space Gallery, Toronto, ON.
 * Rehab: Weaning Youth off Corporate Crack, The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON.

2006
 * Art in the Halls, 401 Richmond, Toronto, ON.
 * Collision 2006 Inter-arts Research and Practices, University of Victoria, B.C.
 * Get on the Bus, CITY – Z SPACE, San Francisco, CA.

2004
 * 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, Toronto, ON.
 * LISTEN!: FIVE HOLES series, FADO, Toronto, ON.
 * Squarefoot 2004, A.W.O.L Gallery, Toronto, ON.

2003
 * Touch and Go, The Third Floor, Brooklyn, NY.
 * Body: Not My Autobiography, The Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
 * Gestures, Implant, Toronto, ON.
 * Beautificades, Ne Plus Ultra, Toronto, ON.

2002
 * hardFORM, Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, Toronto, ON.

REVIEWS/ESSAYS/INTERVIEWS

Ali, Grace Aneiza. “Un/Fixed Homeland.” Transition: The Magazine of Africa and the Diaspora. 2016, pp. 135 - 145.

Mowry, Crystal. “Rest/Repeat: An Interview with Erika DeFreitas,” No More Potlucks, Issue No. 45: Repetition, September 1, 2016.

Pluecker, John. “The One and the Many: A Self-Portrait in Seven Parts.” ARTFORUM, May 2015.

Neudorf, Kim. “We Won’t Compete at the Art Gallery of Windsor.” Akimblog, August 12, 2014.

Dick, Terence. “Face Value at Gallery 1313 I Jason Wright at GalleryWest.” Akimblog, February 25, 2014.

Matthews, Nolan. “The Art of Erika DeFreitas.” The Silhouette. May 21, 2013.

Vegh, Stephanie. “Erika DeFreitas at Centre 3.” Akimblog, March 19, 3013.

Davidge, Michael. “Message Pictures: Adventures in Reading Images Part 3.” BlackFlash Magazine, Issue 29.2, Winter 2012.

Cittern, Zoe. “A Different Spin on Textiles.” Country Voice, Volume 3 Issue 9: Thursday, March 25, 2010, p.26.

Carraway, Kate. “The art of Scarborough.” Eye Weekly, December 12, 2008.

Eyland, Cliff. Akimblog: Winnipeg, December 2, 2008.

Thiessen, Brittany. “The significance of a blank page: Toronto artist uses obituaries as her canvas for exhibit.”

The Uniter: The University of Winnipeg Student Weekly, Issue 14: November 27, 2008.

Eigenkind, Heidi. “Deaths/Memorials/Births.” Winnipeg: Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts 2008.

Landry, Mike. “Deaths/Memorials/Births.” Things of Desire: Canada’s Alternative Art Weekly, Volume 1 Number 11: October 30-November 5.

Reckitt, Helena. (Catalogue Essay). MVS Programme 2008 Graduating Exhibition. Toronto: The University of Toronto 2008.

Goddard, Peter. “At the Galleries: Closing Today.” The Toronto Star, July 21, 2007, Sec. E6.

Schecter, Fran. “Ethnicity’s Fleeting Face.” NOW Magazine, July 12-18, 2007, p. 81.

Nicholls, Sophie. “Battling against in-school discrimination.” 24 Hours, December 4, 2005, p. 6.

Whyte, Murray. “ Random acts of weirdness.” The Toronto Star, March 26, 2005, Sec. H, p. 1 and 12.