Rebecca Wood: On Being Despised
June 18–August 2
Student Gallery
On Being Despised reimagines a second Eden through the lens of history and personal archive. In the works presented, Toronto-based artist Rebecca Wood re-exposes and layers her late maternal grandmother’s wartime images with contemporary photographs of garden spaces linked to Virginia Woolf, the source of the exhibition’s title. Wood’s maternal grandmother, Sheila Jones, and Virginia Woolf both lived south of London during the bombing campaign. It is to Woolf’s writing Wood turns to access what it must have felt like to live through such horror. Through the use of collage and homemade botanical developers, Wood creates a speculative garden; a site to explore war, gender fluidity and creative transformation. At this time of intersecting crises, Wood invites us into a space for metamorphosis and healing.
Rebecca Wood's work draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She wishes to thank the Milwaukee Public Museum for access to the Neidhoefer Gynandromorphs collection.
The exhibition is supported by the IMC Student Gallery Production Award – in memory of George Fleischmann.
Rebecca Wood, Book of Gynandromorphs, 2025. Ink jet on fabric. 72”x100.”
Rebecca Wood, In the Garden After the War, 1950’s to 2025. Ink jet print on archival paper.
Artist Bio
Rebecca Wood is a multidisciplinary artist exploring relationships in the era of Hyperobjects. Through layered photographic materials, her work challenges binary thinking and highlights the circular nature of time, addressing the escalating hostility toward women. Committed to a speculative documentary practice, Wood avoids reinforcing dominant narratives. A professional photographer for over 20 years, she holds a BFA from the University of Guelph and is pursuing an MFA in Documentary Media Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University with a SSHRC research award. Wood has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Contact Photo Festival, Milk Glass Gallery, and Gallery LeDeco in Tokyo.