What do we learn from our family? What attitudes and approaches to life do we inherit? The current exhibitions at United Contemporary focus on these questions. At the curatorial tour and artist talk, I had the chance to hear firsthand about the choices curator Rebecca Travis made for the group show, and about Karen Kar Yen Law’s practice and exhibition Balancing Bitter.
Installation view of Grandmother at United Contemporary, 2025. Courtesy of United Contemporary
The event took place on a balmy sunlit evening, drawing visitors to look in through the windows and join the crowd. The curatorial tour commenced with Rebecca Travis speaking about her experience joining the United Contemporary team in February 2025. The exhibition Grandmother: Nonna; Setsuné; Ahma; Madar joon; Baachan; Po po contains work by gallery artists and focuses on the human figure as a source of learning, joy, humour, and connection. Fitting for the introduction was Jake Kimble’s piece Funny Bones (2021) on the wall in the background.
Jake Kimble. Funny Bones, 2021, archival inkjet print mounted on dibond, 25 x 25 inches x 4. Courtesy of United Contemporary
Kimble’s grandmother is a frequent collaborator, who also participated in DNA Holy You Ever Act Like Granny (2023). In Funny Bones there are four photographs, each containing Kimble and his grandmother, both holding pies. Progressively through the series, the pies are pressed against both Kimble’s and the grandmother’s faces. The fourth image in the bottom right displays their joy, barely contained and identifiable among the meringue.
The figure of the grandmother has also been a source to contemplate aging, memory, inheritance, and trauma. Works such as those of Emma Nishimura and Marzieh Miri consider this aspect of family history. The delicate dress work of Nishimura reflects on her family’s experience in Japanese internment camps.
Emma Nishimura. Shikata ga nai: It is what it is, 2025, photo etching on gampi with thread, framed in white, 24 x 24.5 inches. Courtesy of United Contemporary
Miri utilizes layers in to carry one’s home #1-3 (2017-2024) with palimpsests of images created through a polaroid emulsion lift on glass. The works are stacked on the surface of a shelf to create further depth. This installation is across the room from an extension of this series: to carry one’s home #1-9 (2017-2024), containing the photographs framed rather than having the image on glass. In this series, Miri remembers her grandparents’ home and their migration, navigating their memories and dreams in parallel stories.
Marzieh Miri, to carry one’s home #2, 2017-2024, polaroid emulsion lift on plexiglass, 5 x 9 inches. Courtesy of United Contemporary
Marzieh Miri, to carry one’s home #6 (left) and #1 (right), both 2017-2024, polaroid emulsion lift, 4 x 4 inches. Courtesy of United Contemporary
There is a piece that functions as a transition from the exhibition about grandmothers to Karen Kar Yen Law’s show Bitter Melon in which she shares a video of a FaceTime call with her grandma. The artist spoke about her experience learning to cook and how having multiple generations living in the same home, in a largely Chinese community, made a difference in connecting culturally. The process of learning how to cook presented an opportunity to connect with nourishment, care, and communication that is essential in cooking together and understanding each other.
Karen Kar Yen Law is speaking at her Artist Talk (left) with curator Rebecca Travis (right). Photo: Rashana Youtzy
The works in Law’s solo exhibition Balancing Bitter evolved out of this fundamental relationship with food, considering bitter melon and what it represents: good health, the stoicism of taking in stride things that are difficult, engaging with cuisine in one’s culture, and exploring the familiar in new ways.
Karen Kar Yen Law, Melon Render No. 3, (left) and Melon Render No. 4 (right) both 2024, acrylic, oil, and aerosol paint, with photosensitive dye on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Courtesy of United Contemporary
Law’s painting-print hybrid replicates the ridges and mounds of a bitter melon in saturated hues reminiscent of the acridity of bile, while also layering magenta and arctic blues to strike a balance. Law’s canvases are large, filling the gallery with imagery of bumps and drifts like those of a landscape.
Karen Kar Yen Law, Melon Render No. 7, 2024, acrylic, oil, and aerosol paint, with photosensitive dye on canvas, 60 x 72 inches. Courtesy of United Contemporary
As patrons sampled the prepared bitter melon to literally consume the paintings’ motif, they were surprised to connect with the artist in a culinary way. Some grew up eating bitter melon, while for others it was their first time. While people came from many different backgrounds, they found solace in the tenderness with which Law spoke to her grandmother. The conversation about being understood, seen, and loved in one’s mother tongue was especially touching as it is a struggle to maintain languages in diasporic communities. United Contemporary and the artists involved in the exhibitions facilitated those moments of connection, across cultures and generations alike.
Rashana Youtzy
*Exhibition information: Grandmother / Group show and Karen Kar Yen Law, Balancing Bitter, June 12 – July 19, 2025, United Contemporary, 129 Tecumseth Street, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 11am – 6pm.