McMaster Museum of Art wins Exhibition of the Year, topping Ontario’s biggest galleries

The McMaster Museum of Art — M(M)A — has won Ontario’s Exhibition of the Year award, topping some of the province’s largest galleries for its Fall 2024 exhibition, The Clichettes: Lips, Wigs, and Politics.

The Clichettes were the influential performance trio of McMaster faculty member Janice Hladki, Louise Garfield and Johanna Householder. Their work from 1978 to 1993 blended feminist satire, lip-sync, theatre, drag, dance and comedy, challenging and reimagining cultural tropes of femininity and masculinity.

Seeing the trio’s work recognized at this scale is meaningful personally, artistically, and politically, said Hladki, who was a professor for 20 years in the School of the Arts and in Gender Studies and Feminist Research, where she enjoyed working with students and developing research on visual culture, gender, and disability.

“The Clichettes were always about pushing boundaries with humour and an unwavering dedication to collaboration, performance, and feminist social critique,” she said. “To have this retrospective embraced so widely, and to see our work resonate with new audiences decades later, is really moving.”

“The Clichettes are grateful to the M(M)A team for bringing our history to life with such generosity and vision.”

The M(M)A received the Exhibition of the Year (Budget Over $50,000) award at the 48th annual Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries (GOG) Awards. Competitors in this category included major contenders such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Ottawa Art Gallery.

The win is a significant accomplishment for the M(M)A’s small but highly skilled team, said Mary Reid, who joined the museum as director and chief curator in March 2025.

“When I was considering applying for this role, I visited the Clichettes exhibition and was blown away by its complexity, sassiness and sophistication,” she said.

“I left the museum knowing that this was a place I wanted to join and belong. This recognition reflects the impressive foundation built here and the power of the work our team is doing.”

The award was announced Dec. 1 at a GLAM-themed ceremony — a fitting nod both to the exhibition’s exuberant spirit and to the sector represented by the acronym: galleries, libraries, archives and museums.

Toronto Poet Laureate Lillian Allen also received an award for her contribution to The Clichettes exhibition catalogue.

McMaster’s exhibition of the Clichettes was produced in partnership with V-Tape, an artist-run distributor of video art, and curated by Ivana Dizdar.

“I could toss out all the usual platitudes about the process behind this exhibition — it took a village and it was certainly a labour of love — but none of them quite capture the kindness, courage, spirit, magic, and friendship that brought it to life,” Dizdar said.

“In a world that feels chaotic and unjust, I hope this show stands as a testament to the power of art to help us imagine a better world.”

The group’s first retrospective brought together more than 150 costumes, props, videos, photographs, scripts and archival materials, making it the most comprehensive presentation of the group’s practice to date.

The award also recognizes the collaborative efforts behind the exhibition.

Former M(M)A director and chief curator Carol Podedworny stewarded the project and its publication before her retirement. The show was brought to life by Betty Julian, senior curator, Sam de Lange, preparator and exhibition designer, and Julie Bronson, exhibition coordinator.

Beyond the accolades, The Clichettes illustrates the M(M)A’s role in connecting McMaster with the broader public: The exhibition and publication involved numerous partners, collaborators and alumni, including McMaster graduate Jenn Heldson, of the Muses, who helped restore costumes and props created by her former professor, Hladki.

The recognition affirms the M(M)A’s commitment to producing exhibitions that resonate on campus and across the province, Reid says.