Reading Group

Every Saturday, join members of the curatorial team for an informal reading group discussing works of fiction and theory related to the exhibition and its central theme of cultural hybridity. Weekly discussions consider texts by exhibiting artist Seth Price; Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong; the Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector, and the Canadian-Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje’s novel In the Skin of a Lion (1987), from which the exhibition’s title is derived. Extracts from these texts will be distributed and read collectively at the start of each session to kick-start the conversation.

This week's final session is led by Krishna Balakrishnan, who discusses the aforementioned In The Skin Of A Lion by Michael Ondaatje. Ondaatje's often criticised for not writing about his Sri Lankan identity. Instead, he writes stories of changing notions of identities, which is representative of his own identity as a Canadian with roots in another nation. In the novel, he writes about the immigrants who helped build Toronto in the 1900s, focusing on the change the city has undergone and the changing definition of immigrants. The reading session will focus on chapters 'Little Seeds' and 'The Bridge'.

Please e-mail rsvp@zabludowiczcollection.com to register your interest and receive this week's reading.