Plug In ICA’s new exhibition, ‘The Performance of Being’ featuring Leesa Streifler

November 14, 2025 - January 3, 2026

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is elated to announce The Performance of Being, a retrospective of Leesa Streifler.

The exhibition explores Streifler’s sustained interest in the representation, performance and politics of “Othered,” marginalized and non-conforming bodies. Drawing on her own lived experience and informed by feminist theory, her powerful, emotionally-charged, and expressive works present figures that defy social conventions, behavioural ‘norms’ and traditional gender roles to engage in critical discourse on body-image, sexuality, agency, performativity, relationships, motherhood, illness and aging. Drawn from public and private collections nationwide, this survey brings together over one hundred works in drawing, painting, mixed media, photography and installation, exemplifying the significant contributions of Streifler’s critically-acclaimed practice towards feminist art in Canada.

This exhibition is curated by Wayne Baerwaldt & Jennifer McRorie. It is organized by the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery in partnership with the Nickle Galleries (Calgary, AB), Art Gallery of Swift Current (Swift Current, SK), Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (Brandon, MB) and Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art (Winnipeg, MB).