Michèle Pearson Clarke is an artist, writer, and educator who works in photography, film, video, and installation. Using archival, performative and process-oriented strategies, her work situates grief as a site of possibility for social engagement and political connection. Born in Trinidad and based in Toronto, her work has been exhibited and screened throughout Canada and internationally with recent solo exhibitions at MOMENTA Biennale de l’image (Montreal), Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
Her film/video work has also been exhibited and screened at the National Gallery of Canada, the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), Lagos Photo Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Maryland Institute College of Art, ltd los angeles, The Image Centre (Toronto), and Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Toronto).
From 2016-2017, Clarke was artist-in-residence at Gallery 44, and she was the inaugural 2020-2021 artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto’s Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. Most recently, Clarke was awarded the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts 2019 Finalist Artist Prize, and she served as the second Photo Laureate for the City of Toronto (2019-2022). Clarke holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto, and in 2015 she received her Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), where she is an Assistant Professor in Photography in the School of Image Arts.
Clarke is currently shortlisted for the 2023 Sobey Art Award and her first solo exhibition at MKG127 will be presented in Fall, 2024.
Dayna McLeod, “Queer Black Masculinities: Middle-aged Boyhood,” Ciel Variable, Summer 2023
Sara Angel, “The Look of Love: 12 Canadian Works,” Art Canada Institute, February 10, 2023
Stephanie Vegh, “Michèle Pearson Clarke at the Art Gallery of Hamilton,” Akimbo, July 7, 2022
Maeve Hanna, “Michèle Pearson Clarke at The New Gallery, Calgary,” Akimbo, October 16, 2019
John Nyman, “Through Lines,” Border Crossings 149, March 2019
Letticia Cosbert, “Critic’s Picks,” Akimbo, December 12, 2018
RM Vaughan, Critics’ Pick, Artforum, September 27, 2018
Tiana Reid, “We Aren’t a We,” Canadian Art, July 25, 2018
Kelsey Adams, “Black is Canadian,” Canadian Art, April 10, 2018
Sharon Mizota, “Sweat lodge, Audre Lorde, magical holograms: Three stellar art shows
that pull you to another place,” Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2018
Murray Whyte, “New show returns ROM to African-Canadian issues – and scores a
provocative success,” The Toronto Star, January 28, 2018
Jacqueline Valencia, “Images Festival, 2015,” Mubi, April 18, 2015