Lectures and Talks
Black Art Matters: Nya Lewis In Conversation with Rebecca Bair
Tue Feb 9, 2021 | 4 PM
Vancouver Art Gallery
Rebecca Bair, Courtesy of the Artist
Join guest curator Nya Lewis on Tuesday, February 9 at 4 PM for a conversation with artist Rebecca Bair, broadcast live on the Gallery’s Instagram account.
Presented from February 8 to 11 in conjunction with the exhibition Where do we go from here?, this series of talks on Instagram will highlight the work of Black and Indigenous vanguards, whose practices draw attention to the voices of underrepresented communities.
Also being presented in this series:
February 8, 4 PM: Jessie Addo »
February 10, 4 PM: Anique Jordan »
February 11, 4 PM: Tania Willard »
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Rebecca Bair is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver on the traditional and ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. In 2020, Bair graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s MFA program. Her research aims to explore the possibilities of specific representation and of identity for Black Women on Turtle Island through abstraction and non-figuration. In addition to her artistic career, Bair is an educator, a mentor to Black youth and artists with developmental disabilities, and the co-creator of a new Black youth owned and operated gallery space in Surrey. Her artistic, professional and educational goals revolve around common themes of celebrating Black plurality and possibility, as well as enabling interpersonal and intercultural care.
Nya Lewis is a Vancouver-based, award-winning independent curator and MFA candidate at OCAD University. Moved by the goal of equitable access to art and diverse stories in Canada, her work is the culmination of African resistance, love questions, actions, study and embrace. Currently she serves as the Founder and Director of BlackArt Gastown, a year-round programmer for Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and a contributing curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Museum of Anthropology. A writer, activist and community organizer committed to building just and inclusive cultural and social infrastructure in Vancouver, Lewis’ work celebrates the strength and perseverance of Black Canadian culture, history and its diversity.