Spadina Museum presents In Broken Light, a new site-specific exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Ry Van Der Hout, curated by Adrien Sun Hall, on view from August 26 through October 18, 2026.
Within the historic rooms of Spadina House, light appears in fragments, gathering in mirrors, illuminating portraits, and lingering in spaces shaped by generations of domestic life. Beneath the house lie traces of earlier worlds; within its walls remain the stories, losses, and memories of those who once passed through its doors.
For In Broken Light, Van Der Hout creates five sculptural interventions throughout the museum, engaging the architecture and layered histories of the site. Working across photography, stained glass, mirrors, and processes of rupture and repair, the artist reveals the emotional residue embedded within objects, spaces, and narratives. Cracks and fractures become apertures through which overlooked histories emerge, transforming the artworks into contemporary reliquaries that honour both remembered and forgotten lives.
Moving between deep histories, the present moment, and imagined futures, In Broken Light traces connections across time. Fragments persist, reflections multiply, and temporal boundaries remain permeable, inviting visitors to consider how memory is carried, transformed, and reassembled across generations.
Through these interventions, Van Der Hout offers a meditation on remembrance, absence, and resilience, creating moments of quiet encounter within one of Toronto's most storied historic homes.
Spadina Museum, named from an Anishnaabemowin word ishpadina (“highland” or “ridge”), is part of Toronto History Museums and sits atop a ravine overlooking the city.
Spadina Museum, 285 Spadina Rd
In Broken Light is a presentation of Toronto History Museums with generous support from Toronto Arts Council’s Animating Historic Sites program.
Exhibition viewing is offered as a part of regular museum tours only, and has free admission
