Exhibitions

Curatorial Statement

Abo Touk’s curatorial practice is grounded in cross-cultural dialogue, multidisciplinary storytelling, and a sustained commitment to artistic experimentation. Centered on diversity and critical engagement, her work explores how art can reframe social narratives and expand conventional understandings of its role in society. Through issue-driven and sensorial exhibitions, Abo Touk seeks to bridge art and lived experience, creating spaces where audiences encounter powerful and underrepresented stories. By engaging with memory, activism, and contested histories from multiple perspectives, her curatorial approach amplifies marginalized voices and opens new ways of seeing, feeling, and understanding global narratives.

Curatorial and Exhibition history (2012-2025)

Solo Exhibitions:

  • Bleeding Borders, Toronto based artist Amin Rehman, November 7, 2025 - November 29, 2025, Red Head Gallery, Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Aboud Salman: The Euphrates Storyteller, Syrian born Edmonton based artist, February 16, 2023 - May 21, 2023, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk, finalized by Mohsen Ahi Andy.

  • Bleeding Borders, Toronto based artist Amin Rehman, November 25, 2021 - March 20, 2022, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • I dreamed a universe! Calgary based artist Carl White, March 4, 2021 - May 30, 2021, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Hassan Hajjaj: La Salle de Gym des Femmes Arabes, Moroccan-British artist. October 25, 2017 - Al Riwaq Art Space. (selection on loan from the The Third Line Gallery Dubai). Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

Group Exhibitions:

  • Tending to What Remains, featuring Xece/Khadija Baker, Anna Williams, Shannon Taylor-Jones, Nadine Hajjaj, and Jawa El Khash, September 4 – October 5, 2025, Workman Arts, Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • re*imagining / créer / building / faire / mapping / connaissance /...… featuring rudi aker, Pansee Atta, Amin Rehman, and Swapnaa Tamhane. March 9 - April 6, 2023. Worlding Public Cultures Conference and Exhibition. FOFA Gallery Concordia University. Co-Curated by Manar Abo Touk, Lorraine Doucet Sisto et Varda Nisar.

  • Video Games? Art and Technology, featuring Pippin Barr, Sandee Moore, and artist collective SpekWork (Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll), October 6, 2022 - January 29, 2023, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Jazz Influences: Rhythm, Movement and Improv! featuring Aretha Laverne & Shei Onu, Breanne Bandur, Darren Kooyman, Ryan McCourt, Stéphanie McLean and collaborative collective BuckingJam Palace & Quickdraw Animation Society, including (Animators:: Noah Spencer, Troy Kokol, Sheena Agnew, Arielle McCuaig, Leslie Bell, Lyndon Navalta, Musicians: Caity Gyorgy, Carsten Rubeling, Mark Limacher, Luis ‘El Pana’ Tovar, Lisa Jacobs), July 21, 2022 - November 6, 2022, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Dissecting Identities, featuring artists Marilène Oliver, Paddy Lamb, Rebekah Miller, Haley Bassett, Anna Williams, Cara Guri, February 10, 2022 - May 8, 2022, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk. 

  • Tuloy, Tawid, featuring Zeus Bascon (Laguna, Philippines), KoloWn (Philippines), Greys Lockheart (Cebu City, Philippines), Julius Poncelet Manapul (Toronto, Canada), Marigold Santos (Calgary, Canada) and Karen Zalamea (Vancouver, Canada), June 24, 2021 - September 20, 2021, AGGP. Co-curated by Kuh Del Rosario and Manar Abo Touk.

  • 20-year anniversary – community driven featuring local artists. May 2018, Al Riwaq Art Space. co-curated with community.

  • The NEST Public Art Festival “Appeal”, featuring 75 regional and international artists including Ahmad Angawi, Ahmad Matter, Sarah Abu Abdualla, Hassan Hajjaj, Walid Siti, Ajlan Gharem, Camille Zacharia, Lamya Gargash, Abdulla Al Saadi and many more. October 2017- January 2018, Al Riwaq Art Space, Co-curated by Waheeda Malullah, Manar Abo Touk, and Gallery Director Bayan al Kanoo.

  • The Artist, featuring Maryam Ebrahim Mohamed Al Sindi, Sarah Aradi, Maryam Nass, Seema Al Abdulhai, Mariam Alseba, Ramlaa Al Halal, Mariam Bukhamseen, Reem Janahi, Maryam S. Aljomairi, Areej Al Nahdi and Michael Contino. 27 September 2017. Al Riwaq Art Space. Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Feelings, featuring SoJin Chun, Nelly Cesar Marin, Gabriela Golder, Chirstian Jankowski, Ximena Cuevas, April 2-16, 2015, Beaver Hall Gallery. alucine Latin Film+Media Arts Festival (New Media exhibition and festival), Curated by Maria Alejandrina Coates.

  • Transformations: The Lives and Art of A. Y. Jackson and Otto Dix, featuring 74 paintings —19 from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada—in addition to drawings and a number of historical documents commemorating the Great War, its consequences, and the role played by Canada. April 8 - 21 September, 2014, Canadian War Museum, Curated by Director of Art, Dr. Laura Brandon. Canadian War Museum. Guided tour developed by Manar Abo Touk.

  • New Painter 1: The Abstractionists, featuring Ali Kramers, Cindy Mersky, Darren Kooyman, Karyn Watson, April 3 - May 8, 2014. Studio SIXTY-SIX Art Gallery, Co-curated by Carrie Colton and Manar Abo Touk. (including up to 7 exhibitions 2013-2014)

  • NAKED NAKED NAKED, featuring local artists, 2012, Patrick John Mills Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery. (including up to 9 exhibitions 2011-2012)

Permanent Collection Exhibitions:

  • Undocumented Studies, Evelyn McBryan, Sketches from The Permanent Collection. June 30, 2022 - February 26, 2023. AGGP, Co-curated by Manar Abo Touk and Jamie-Lee Cormier.

  • Rest Stops: Mapping out the Permanent Collection, featuring Ray Laurin, Euphemia McNaught, Robert Guest, Evy McBryan, Brian Geary, Jean Wagner, Betty Mackay, Inez Demuynck, Laine Dahlen, December 9, 2021 - June 19, 2022, AGGP, Co-curated by Manar Abo Touk and Katrina Shirley.

  • The Abstract Line, featuring Ron Kostyniuk, Jim Stokes, and Robert Guest, April 22, 2021 - November 28, 2021, AGGP. Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • We all live inside The Freud Museum, Refugee Re imagined, collection Anna Freud photography, December 4, 2018, Freud Museum, (Masters project, Kingston University London), installation design by Annie Yonkers, Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Six Permanent Collection exhibitions, featuring local and regional artists such Sinan Hussain, Rafa Al Nasiri, and Mohamed Sharkawi. 2017-2018, Al Riwaq Art Space, Curated by Manar Abo Touk.

Touring Exhibitions and Loans:

  • George Littlechild, Here I am – can you see me? April 7, 2022 - July 11, 2022, On loan from the Art Gallery of Alberta. AGGP, Curated by MJ Belcourt Moses, Led by Manar Abo Touk.

  • ᖃᓪᓗᓈᖅᑕᐃᑦ ᓯᑯᓯᓛᕐᒥᑦ Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios, May 26, 2022 - September 18, 2022. On Loan from the Textile Museum of Canada, CURATORIAL LEAD Roxane Shaughnessy | PROJECT PARTNER: West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative, AGGP, led by Manar Abo Touk.

  • Collection show of prints on loan from National Gallery of Canada (Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985)- ‘The Bible” series) and Remai (Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) “The Bullfight” series), September 30, 2021 - January 9, 2022, AGGP. Organized by gallery staff.

  • Durar conference and PostCraft design exhibition, (Creative Dialogue), October 2017, Al Riwaq Art Space, Curated by Samer Yamani.