THE 52: STORIES OF WOMEN WHO TRANSFORMED TORONTO is Coming to Museum of Toronto

Museum of Toronto will present the exhibition, The 52: Stories of Women Who Transformed Toronto on April 9th. This multidisciplinary exhibition and live theatrical experience took three years to develop and is unlike any other historical presentation. For the first time, a museum exhibition celebrates the lives of 52 women who have inspired and transformed Toronto. The exhibit is organized into themes of science, arts and culture, politics, sports, and civic life. The exhibition will run until December 2025 and will be accompanied by a live theatrical experience June 4-8th, presented in association with Luminato Festival Toronto.

"People are at the center of our work, especially Torontonians. We felt it was important to tell the stories of these 52 iconic women in ways that extended beyond the pages of history books and into mini performances of their lives", says Heidi Reitmaier, Executive Director of the Museum of Toronto. "We collaborated with over 150 women on this project, and the investor campaign was women-led and funded. This is an extraordinary exhibition, one that you have never seen or heard before. We wholeheartedly encourage everyone to come and visit the free exhibition at 401 Richmond and to book your tickets for the live performances."

The 52 Project

The project was inspired by the fact that women currently make up 52% of the population in Toronto. That statistic was then translated into the number of iconic women celebrated in this exhibition and informed the name.

These women were firsts in their fields, their pursuits or the trails they blazed. We learn of the first female-owned Chinese restaurant, the first woman to practice law, the first female mayor, the first woman elected to the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the first female war correspondent, and the female founder of the first Indian dance company, and the author of the first Indigenous work published in Canada.

Highlighted women in the exhibition:

• Adrienne Louise Clarkson (1939- ) The 26th governor general of Canada as well as the first racialized person appointed to the vice-regal position.

• Emily Stowe (1831-1903) The first female physician to publicly practise in Ontario and founder of the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association.

• Jackie Shane (1940-2019) Pioneering transgender performer who was a prominent figure in Toronto's R&B scene in the 1960s.

• Josephine Mandamin (1942-2019) Anishinaabe elder, water-rights advocate, and Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner.

• Margaret Atwood (1939- ) Novelist, poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor.

• Penny Oleksiak (2000- ) Olympic swimmer and Canada's most decorated Olympian, with seven medals overall.

Exhibition at Museum of Toronto

This is no traditional exhibition. To tell these important stories, this project has commissioned 24 exemplary playwrights to write 52 monologues - one for each transformational woman on the list. The award-winning Canadian playwrights include: Aida Jordao, Alex Cameron, Ali Joy Richardson, Anna Chatterton, Cheri Maracle, Coleen MacPherson, Diane Flacks, Erin Shields, Falen Johnson, Jo SiMalaya Alcampo, Jordi Mand, Julia Hune-Brown, Julie Tepperman, Kanika Ambrose, Keira Loughran, Lisa Ryder, Marcia Johnson, Marjorie Chan, Meghan Swaby, Ophira Calof, Sarena Parmar, Sedina Fiati, Shandra Spears and Sharada Eswar. The filmed monologues feature actors from across the country.

The films will be showcased at the exhibition as they tell the stories, both personal and factual, about each of the iconic 52 women. The exhibition highlights the harrowing, exhilarating, heartbreaking and courageous actions and lives of each of the 52 women. Each woman has a filmed monologue dedicated to their stories and entering the exhibition will be like walking onto a stage set that embodies the lives of these women.

The exhibition will also feature personal objects, photographs, letters, and mementos of the women, as well as material culture from our city, displayed throughout the space, drawn from the City of Toronto Archives, Toronto History Museums Fine Art and Artifact Collection and personal collections.

Live Theatrical Experience, presented in association with Luminato Festival Toronto

To bring the project to life, The 52: Stories of Women Who Transformed Toronto will also be presented as a series of live theatre performances, June 4-8th at the Luminato Festival Toronto. The City of Toronto archives provides the backdrop for the audience to meet these women and bear witness to the dramatization of the 52 monologues. From a pioneering transgender performer to the first children's librarian, from an Indigenous baseball player to an activist who organized anti-fascist demonstrations, the audience will roam with the players as the experience travels through time from the 1800s to present day. The stories of these women will surprise every audience member. Some are familiar, others untold. And yet without them, Toronto would not be what it is today. Tickets will be available soon at luminatofestival.com