Great Ocean Dialogues

The Great Ocean is defined as a relational space by many Indigenous Nations. In Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim, “shḵwen̓: shéwalh tl’a swá7am-chet” means “to cross a big ocean, the roads of our Ancestors.” In hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the ocean is referred to as “sʔəƛ̓qəl̕əc,” or “outside waters.” In te reo Māori, “Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa” is “the Great Ocean of Kiwa,” and in yakʔitʔɨnɨsmu tiłhinkʔtitʸu, “łpasini” translates to “the one ocean.”

Orienting ourselves toward the open waters, Great Ocean Dialogues begins from a generative refusal of the idea that the Pacific is a vacant space peripheral to imperialistic power and flows of capital. This event positions the Great Ocean as both a return to and a reimagining of our ancestral and current connections across cultural and geographic contexts. How can this concept contribute to shaping Indigenous contemporary art transnationally and from Indigenous perspectives? How can we create and sustain networks of support across the ocean? Where do our practices, knowledges and struggles for sovereignty align, and where do they diverge? And how do we honour our differences when seeking connection? This two-day gathering will feature conversations between local First Nations artists and knowledge keepers alongside international and Vancouver-based guests in order to explore these questions.

Great Ocean Dialogues is an Indigenous-led gathering produced in partnership between the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective / Collectif des commissaires autochtones, SFU Galleries and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Great Ocean Dialogues will take place over 3 sessions. Each session requires registration. Please see below for detailed schedule.

Session 3 Tickets: Free. Registration Required.

All 3 Sessions + Transits and Returns private reception: $15 for Members | $30 for General Admission. Registration Required.

A Note on Welcoming:
Please note that local First Nations will be granted free admission to these events. If cost is a barrier to you, please contact us by phone at 604-662-4700 or by email at customerservice@vanartgallery.bc.ca.

Find out more about Session 1 »
Find out more about Session 2 »

Schedule of Events

9 AM: Refreshments

9:30 AM: Welcome and Opening Remarks

Welcome and opening remarks with Salia Joseph, Executive Director of Kwi Awt Stelmexw, and Camille Georgeson-Usher, Executive Director of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective / Collectif des commissaires autochtones (ACC-CCA)

10 AM–12 PM: Panel Discussion
Indigenous Art and Curation: Between Culturally Specific and Transnational Contexts
Panelists: BC Collective (Cora-Allan Wickliffe and Daniel Twiss), Michelle McGeough, Chrystal Sparrow. Moderated by Freja Carmichael.

As citizens of Indigenous Nations and as arts workers articulating their own self-determined visions, these panelists will focus on navigating the spaces between the culturally specific and the transnational. What challenges or problems arise in translating across cultural lines, and where are the opportunities for exchange and growth? How can transnational Indigenous art histories and communities of practice become better known whilst remaining adequately contextualized?

1–3 PM: Panel Discussion
Re/turning To Futures: Urgent Imaginations Panelists: Christopher Ando, Hannah Brontë, Chantal Fraser, Bracken Hanuse Corlett, Whess Harman. Moderated by Dayna Danger.

This panel of artists will consider the impact of differing conceptions of time, space and kinship in their practices. The trend of Indigenous futurisms is now prevalent in the art and academic worlds, but how do we enact re/turns to care and balance beyond climate and political apocalypse?

3:15–5:15 PM: Panel Discussion
Working With and From Within Community
Panelists: Taloi Havini, Sarah Hunt, Jaymyn La Vallee, Carol McGregor, Faith Sparrow. Moderated by Sarah Biscarra Dilley.

Within discourses of reconciliation, much has been discussed and written on the topics of consultation and collaboration between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous academics, curators and researchers. However, how do we want to work with each other as arts workers from different Indigenous Nations? How do we want to work with, and from within, our own communities? How can this work re-shape the way that our labour is valued, displayed, circulated and critiqued? How can it change the way future generations enter into artistic and intellectual work? And how do we care for ourselves and others within the complications of community life?

5:15–5:30 PM: Closing Remarks
with Tarah Hogue, Senior Curatorial Fellow of Indigenous Art

5:30–6:30 PM: Closing Reception