The NATO Association Of Canada’s Virtual Art Gallery

Welcome to the NATO Association of Canada’s virtual gallery!

This summer we at the NAOC are very excited to present various visual artworks and performances from each NATO member state. Art is a powerful way to promote NATO’s message of peace, prosperity and diversity, and we hope you enjoy seeing the selected works!

Spain 🇪🇸
We are very happy to be sharing this video from the PHotoESPAÑA photography festival in Madrid called “El vecindario más grande del mundo”, or The Biggest Neighbourhood in the World.

The PHotoESPAÑA photography festival was founded in Madrid in 1998 with the intention of developing a festival rooted in society. This summer, after noticing the essential role that balconies and windows were playing in Spanish citizens’ quarantine experiences, PHotoESPAÑA invited anyone who was interested to share a photo from their balcony with them. These photos were complied into the project #PHEdesdemibalcón.


Italy 🇮🇹
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is currently partnering with Imago Mundi Art to present Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, an exhibit dedicated to telling the story of the second-generation experience in a series of diverse artistic commissions, and fostering dialogue and understanding between cultures and communities. The exhibit opened in Italy in November 2019, and will be completing its North American premiere at the Aga Khan Museum on October 11, 2020, before continuing its travels to venues across Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

You can view a full tour of the exhibit, as well as interviews with the artists and curators, online. https://agakhanmuseum.org/exhibitions/dont-ask-me-where-im-from



Germany 🇩🇪
This Arts and Culture post is courtesy of the National Gallery of Canada. This famous portrait of mohawk leader Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) was painted by William Berczy, a German artist who emigrated to North America in the late eighteenth century. It was painted in 1807, shortly after Brant’s death.
William Berczy was born in Bavaria in 1744 and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1792. He re-located again to present day Toronto shortly after and in 1794 was offered a large plot of land North of the city in exchange for establishing the new town of York. Thayendanegea was a Mohawk military and political leader, born in 1743 in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. This portrait features the leader in full regalia standing in front of a beautiful natural landscape.

You can view the portrait here: https://www.gallery.ca/…/art…/thayendanegea-joseph-brant. To find out more about William Berczy, visit the website of the Goethe-Institut Toronto: https://www.goethe.de/ins/ca/en/kul/sup/dsk/dstu/bep.html