TORONTO.- The curatorial direction of the forthcoming Art Toronto Focus Exhibition has been decided: Dr. Zoé Whitley will present the art fair’s fourth edition of this special section. Whitley is a London-based, US-born curator and writer. With a twenty year history in Britain's leading museum collections and exhibition-making galleries, projects to her credit include co-curating the acclaimed touring exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (2017-2020), curating the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2019), and editing the major monograph on Barkley L. Hendricks, solid! (Skira, 2024).

"I am perpetually excited by the contemporary artistic practices and creative thinking nurtured in Canada, reverberating globally,” says Dr. Zoé Whitley. “Whether serving on the Sobey Art Award jury in 2024––a particular privilege as the only non-artist juror, or working closely with artists such as Lotus L. Kang and Abbas Akhavan abroad, it's thrilling to be able to work with Art Toronto on an international showcase that brings together Canadian artists and voices across the globe in the context of multicultural Toronto."

As curator of the Focus Exhibition, Whitley will bring together artworks from participating Art Toronto galleries to create a thematic section for art collectors to view and buy. The twenty-sixth edition of Art Toronto will take place from October 23–26th at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada.

“We’re thrilled to announce Dr. Zoé Whitley as the curator for the 2025 Focus Exhibition at Art Toronto,” states Mia Nielsen, Director of Art Toronto. “Whitley combines the creative and critical thinking of a visionary curator with a strong perspective on our current artistic moment. Her contributions to Art Toronto promise to be extraordinary.”

Launched in 2022, the Focus Exhibition invites a notable curator to present a curatorial lens through which audiences can view and acquire some of the most ambitious works presented at the fair.Previously, Art Toronto’s Focus Exhibition has been curated by Marie-Charlotte Carrier (The Hepworth Wakefield) in 2022, Kitty Scott (Fogo Island Arts) in 2023 and Rhéanne Chartrand (Royal Ontario Museum) in 2024.

Art Toronto is set to return to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre October 23-26, 2025, with over 100+ galleries. Participating galleries include Canada’s best, some of the most dynamic spaces in the US and international favourites. The exhibitors will showcase a dynamic selection of works from the best Canadian, US, and international art galleries