Tim Jocelyn

Tim Jocelyn (b. 1952, Ottawa, Canada; d. 1986, Toronto, Canada) was an artist and designer. Jocelyn’s primary medium was textile, in which he made clothing garments, tapestries and folding screens. Through his works’ references to the body he was able to explore his own queer subjectivity.

Jocelyn was a central figure in the 1980s art and fashion scene in Toronto’s Queen Street West neighborhood. During his lifetime he exhibited internationally in both art and fashion contexts including Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto; Julie Artisans Gallery, New York; Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto; and Galerie Walchetürm, Zurich. He met Andy Fabo in 1980, and in 1983, they co-curated Chromaliving at Chromazone, Toronto. In 1985 he moved to New York City with Fabo and received the CIL commission for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 86. Posthumously, his work has continued to be recognized through exhibitions at the Power Plant, the Textile Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and Mercer Union in Toronto, as well as the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga; the McMichael Art Gallery, Kleinburg; and Visual Aids, New York. Jocelyn’s work, specifically that which was presented in Chromaliving, was foregrounded in the exhibition Chroma Lives in Toronto in 2016.