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Vintage black & white photograph with red painted at the top & incorporated subtly throughout, the image textured as if viewed through a screen. Portrait of a young woman in three-quarter profile, gazing off to the right.
Vintage black & white photograph with red painted at the top & incorporated subtly throughout, the image textured as if viewed through a screen. Portrait of a young woman in three-quarter profile, gazing off to the right.

An artist's pilgrimage An artist's pilgrimage

to a village in the Laurentian Highlands of Quebec, where his late mother grew up.

Home Events Art WOO SEE-MING: From the Laurentian Highlands to a Higher Place

WOO SEE-MING: From the Laurentian Highlands to a Higher Place

From Friday, September 18 to Saturday, November 7, 2026 – Gallery 44 presents From the Laurentian Highlands to a Higher Place, a solo exhibition of photographs by WOO SEE-MING taken in and around his mother’s village in Quebec in 2025. Presented in the Members’ Gallery.

Time, sadness, love & joy collapse into one

Shortly after his mother’s funeral, artist WOO SEE-MING made a pilgrimage to the Laurentian Highlands of Quebec.

It was there that his mother took up waitressing in the late 1950s. Despite speaking only French, she fell in love with a Chinese cook with whom she could barely communicate. The village priest refused to marry them. They then moved to Montreal. By accident, the artist would be born to them several years later.

In the final years of her life, WOO’s mother had wanted to see her village once more, but her health did not permit it. So, he visited what she could not: the church that had been central to her life; the partial ruins of the old paper factory where WOO’s grandfather had worked from the 1910s to the 1960s; the cemetery where generations of his ancestors are resting; and the house that his great-grandparents built with their own hands, in which his mother was born. Photos taken in and around these sites in 2025 by WOO serve as the foundation of this exhibition where time, sadness, love and joy collapse into one.

About WOO SEE-MING

Based in Toronto, WOO SEE-MING was born in Montreal, which he had no intention of leaving for Ontario until he did. He studied art-making in a non-visual, non-photography art form only to spend decades achieving complete and total obscurity in his field. In 2022, believing the world was about to end, he purchased a camera to capture the world around him before it went up in a mushroom cloud. If you are reading this, the project is ongoing. Read more about Woo, and see more of his work, here. You can also see and purchase his photographs here.

About Gallery 44

Gallery 44 is an artist-run creative community hub for contemporary photography. They host photography art exhibitions, offer education programs and provide facilities for photo production. While originally founded in Toronto in 1979 by a small group of artists who came together to share a darkroom and studio, they have since moved into their current home at 401 Richmond Street West, grown to over 500 artist members and expanded their public programming.

Vintage black & white photograph with red painted at the top & incorporated subtly throughout, the image textured as if viewed through a screen. Portrait of a young woman in three-quarter profile, gazing off to the right.

(Photo credits: WOO SEE-MING. À la zim boum boum, 2025)

 

Event details

Hosted by: Gallery 44 

Type of event: solo photography exhibit

Featured artist: WOO SEE-MING 

Dates: Friday, September 18 – Saturday, November 7, 2026 (Please note: The gallery is closed on all public holidays.)

Opening Reception Fall Exhibitions: Friday, September 18 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM ET. Includes several fall exhibitions, including this one.

Gallery hours:

  • Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET
  • Saturday: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET

Cost: Free

Location: Gallery 44, Members’ Gallery, 401 Richmond St. W., Suite 120, Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8

Contact Details: Gallery 44, 401 Richmond St. W., Suite 120, Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8, Canada; (416) 979-3941, gallery44.org

 

Accessibility: Gallery 44 is a small organization that occupies two suites in a large heritage building with some external access restrictions. The 401 Richmond building has a narrow ramp at its Spadina Ave. entrance and street-level access at the west entrance near the Spacing store. Gallery 44 will seek to reasonably address physical accessibility issues within their two suites, where possible and as they arise. They welcome all visitors, users, employees and members to use any personal assistive devices while on their premises, as well as service animals and support persons.