TORONTO / SCREENING
Tuesday September 23, 2025, 7PM
Into The Night: Yonge Street Shorts (1975 – 1978), presented by Gallery 44 & VTape
Baby Dolls, by Rodney Werden (1978)
Tuesday Sept 23, 2025, at 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Join Gallery 44 Curator Sameen Mahboubi, Artist-in-Residence Jordan King and filmmaker Janis Cole for a screening of three short films at The Commons @ 401’s Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space (401 Richmond St. West, 4th Floor, Toronto). As part of my year-long residency at Gallery 44, I am exploring analogue film and photography techniques alongside representations of transfeminine subjects on screen.
Cream Soda (1975) Directors Janis Cole & Holly Dale. 11 mins
Cream Soda offers an unparalleled look inside one of Yonge Street’s renowned massage parlors, filmed with the business owner’s reluctant permission. At the time the film was completed, businesses like the one documented in this short were clustered on Yonge Street between Dundas and Gerrard. This unofficial area was known as Toronto’s Sin Strip. Filmmakers Janis Cole and Holly Dale were still students at Sheridan College at the time this short was completed, yet the aesthetic considerations and editing, both of the film itself and the recorded audio, are sublime.
Minimum Charge No Cover (1976) Directors Janis Cole & Holly Dale. 9 mins.
Minimum Charge No Cover is a rich portrait of a handful of individuals Cole and Dale encountered as participants in the Yonge Street scene of the 1970s. These include workers who appeared in their previous short, Cream Soda and drag performers. Rare, sumptuous footage of Yonge Street in neon light, bring the textures of the Sin Strip to life.
Baby Dolls (1978) Director Rodney Werden. 19 mins.
In Toronto video artist Rodney Werden’s intimate portrait, a young trans person discusses their upcoming gender affirming surgery. The camera’s vantage is often uncomfortably close, while in the voice over audio, the interview subject shares their perspective on the changes that lie ahead for them. Werden was a participant in the Yonge Street world, which consisted of many outsiders like those featured in Cole and Dale’s early short films
Following the screening, stay for a panel discussion with Gallery 44 Curator Sameen Mahboubi, filmmaker Janis Cole and I.
ONLINE SCREENING
Still: Sleep. (2025.
Premiering September 2025:
SLEEP
Performance, digital video. Jordan King. (2025) 7 min, 22 seconds.
Sleep is a video work documenting a performance created in June 2025, through an artist-in-residence research creation period initiated by York University’s Creative Entanglement Collaboratory.
Sleep is both documentation of a performance which has been created for presentation in galleries and a unique video work.
More information to follow via The Creative Entanglement Collaboratory Website.
TORONTO / BOOK/ZINE LAUNCH + EXHIBITION
Book Launch + Exhibition: October 2025
SEEN THROUGH RED co-presented with Art Metropole, opening October 16, 2025
“Seen Through Red is an exhibition and publishing project by Jordan King, consisting of three distinct book works published by Art Metropole and an exhibition in Art Metropole’s project space. Drawing upon archival material in her personal collection, King presents Polaroids, photographs, ephemera, and press clippings from the years 2000–2006, facilitating an exploration of personal histories of photography and trans visual agency.
Seen Through Red consists of three distinct publication projects by artist Jordan King, completed in 2025, published by Art Metropole. King drew upon archival material in her personal collection, including Polaroids, photographs, ephemera, and press clippings from the years 2000–2006 to create these works.”
Publications include:
Artist Book, Original Ephemera Edition. 12” X 12” 50 page hand-bound and hand-assembled book, which will be displayed as an exhibited item in Art Metropole’s gallery space from Oct 2025 to Dec 2025, curated by Dallas Fellini. An original artwork in the form of a handbound book, featuring archival photographs, archival newsprint, and handwritten text. The Seen Through Red Original Ephemera Edition features a laser-cut red transparent acrylic cover and O-Ring binding in a handcrafted storage box
Special Edition, 9” X 9”, 24 pages. A special edition handbound book of photographs and printed text. Each features a laser-cut red transparent acrylic cover and O-Ring binding in a handcrafted storage box. Edition of 3.
Zine: Seen Through Red. 5” X 8”, 36 pages. A risograph printed booklet featuring reproductions of nightlife posters and flyers (2001–2003) and archival photographs. Accompanied by essays from Jordan King and Dallas Fellini. Edition of 100.
Pre-orders begin September 17, 2025, at Art Metropole.
TORONTO / EXHIBITION
Exhibition: December 2025
I will exhibit a large format photo series titled “ Double Negative “ in the Gallery 44 vitrines from December 2025 - January 2026*. The series is being developed as part of my residency period at Gallery 44, during which I have documented a new performance work using medium format analogue film photography. I will utilize the Gallery 44 dark room to create the photo prints which will be exhibited in this series. Double Negative explores visual access points to my performance, staged in a gallery setting, with both the documentation and embodiment key components of my artistic research.
Photo Negative #2. 2025. (6cm X 6cm film negative)