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Please join me for the opening of The Five on Friday, March 14th, from 6 to 9. The show runs from March 11th to 16th (closed 13th) from 2 to 5. I will be giving an Artist Talk on Saturday, March 15th at 2 pm.The Five
Heather Gentleman’s latest body of work reexamines the stories of five women forever linked by brutality—the victims of Jack the Ripper. Rather than centring the man who took their lives, this exhibition seeks to restore their humanity, elevating them beyond the gruesome notoriety that has overshadowed their identities for more than a century.
Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly were more than just victims; they were daughters, mothers, workers, and dreamers. Yet, history has reduced them to nothing more than the manner of their deaths—sensationalized, dehumanized, and stripped of dignity. Gentleman's work reimagines their depictions, presenting them not as crime scene images but as women who once lived, loved, and struggled.
The installation consists of suspended panels, creating an immersive space where viewers walk among the works and engage with the narrative. Acrylic paintings on raw canvas depict stylized biomorphic forms, reclaiming and reconfiguring their brutalized bodies in a decorative yet symbolic way. The chiffon panels, adorned with hand-sewn lace, reference their labour—sewing for survival in hopes of affording a bed for the night. These translucent collaged prints merge archival photographs with Victorian postcards, presenting the women in resplendent beauty, dressed in finery and surrounded by abundant flowers—perhaps a vision of who they might have been in another life.
The ethereal layering of these ghostly chiffon images with the bold biomorphic forms of the acrylic paintings creates a third space—one that is both spiritual and deeply personal. The latter is inspired in part by Hilma af Klint, a Victorian-era artist and spiritualist, and her collective known as The Five, who sought to communicate with spirits through art. In this way, Gentleman's installation offers a fitting dialogue between history, remembrance, and transcendence.
Through this evocative reimagining, The Five are given presence, dignity, and the respect they deserve.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
29 McCaul St, Toronto, ON M5T 1V7, Canada
