JA Projects appointed to design Art Gallery of Ontario’s Sunday Best, an exhibition exploring black style

Laura Wheeler Waring, After Sunday Service, 1940. Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 36.8 cm. Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art. PFF231. Image courtesy of the Petrucci Family Foundation.

Opening October 2026, Sunday Best traces the histories of migration, activism, self-determination, and fashion design, woven into the enduring ritual of dressing in one’s “best” clothing. Featuring fashion, visual art, ephemera, and time-based media, this expansive exhibition considers the use of style and self-fashioning in Black diasporic communities, from the 1880s to the present.

Making its world debut in Toronto, the exhibition is conceived and curated by Dr. Julie Crooks (Art Gallery of Ontario), Dr. Jason Cyrus (London College of Fashion), Amanda Bock (Philadelphia Art Museum), and Clare Sauro (Drexel University). JA Projects’ exhibition design aims to bring a spatial language to Sunday Best that is both reflective and celebratory, guiding visitors through the historical and cultural threads that connect each display.

Sunday Best is organised by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Philadelphia Art Museum.