IDEAS in the Afternoon for November 2024
* Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Monday, November 4
JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE
Donald Trump's political rise and victory in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election might have been a surprise to some. But to historian Kristin Kobes du Mez, it was the latest chapter in a long relationship between white American masculinity and evangelical Christianity. Her 2020 book, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, became a New York Times bestseller, and she became an invaluable resource for countless people — inside and outside of the United States — who have been trying to understand where the idea of a 'warrior Jesus' came from, and what lies at the heart of its power.
Monday, November 11
ARTIST, WITNESS, WOMAN: MARY RITER HAMILTON
In 1919, Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton embarked on a solo mission to paint the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium. A woman alone in a destroyed landscape, surrounded by death, she was determined to bear witness to the devastation and the loss through her paintbrush. A century later, Alisa Siegel speaks to the artist's biographer, historians and art historians to resuscitate Mary Riter Hamilton's art, life, and legacy.
Monday, November 18
ARTS PIONEER JOAN JONAS: FROM A MOMA RETROSPECTIVE TO HER GREAT MUSE, CAPE BRETON
In the 1960s, New York City fostered a seismic upheaval defining what art is. One of the standouts of the contemporary art movement was Joan Jonas, an American visual artist and pioneer of video and performance art. Now 88, her work was recently celebrated at the Museum of Modern Art with a major retrospective. She lives most of the year in her Soho Loft and studio. But she also has another significant home and muse. Nearly 55 years ago, she joined a group of prominent New York artists, including her then-partner sculptor Richard Serra and composer Richard Glass, who set up summer homes on the stunning cliffs of western Cape Breton. In 2025, a major work of Jonas' will be on tour in Canada — inspired in part by her time in Inverness. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. A documentary profile of the remarkable Joan Jonas.
Monday, November 25
THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
To wonder is to marvel. More than 2,000 years ago, someone sat down and drafted a list of what was deemed to be the seven wonders of antiquity. At the time, it was a kind of bucket list for ancient travellers — the most awe-inspiring structures that epitomized human imagination and ambition. From the Pyramid of Giza to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, historian Bettany Hughes shares her enthusiasm for the monumental achievements brought into existence by ancient cultures. This onstage conversation was recorded at the Toronto Reference Library.
