Face Value is an exhibition in Toronto, which  explores the complexities of mixed-race identity, which is described by theorist Diana Taylor as “the double-coded neither/nor subjectivity.”

The three artists, featured in the exhibition are Jordan Clarke, who challenges the way others see her as neither black nor white, but ‘something in between'; Erika DeFreitas, who uses language to subvert racial categorization; and Olivia McGilchrist, whose photography and video installation focus on her sense of identity as a white woman born in Jamaica who has recently discovered that her family has African ancestry.

Each artist engages in self-portraiture to narrate their experiences of being mixed race women of Caribbean and European descent. In the artists’ work, the mask is the focal point of self-reflexive inquiry − one that embodies, interrogates, and performs mixed-race in order to destabilize racialized stereotypes.  The artists’ use of masks – both literally and metaphorically – challenges society’s ideas of who these women might be, at face value.

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To learn more about the exhibition visit Face Value's website.