Lectures and Talks
Black Art Matters: Nya Lewis In Conversation with Tania Willard
Thu Feb 11, 2021 | 4 PM
Vancouver Art Gallery
Tania Willard, Courtesy of the Artist
Join guest curator Nya Lewis on Thursday, February 11 at 4 PM for a conversation with artist Tania Willard, 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 9, 4 PM: Rebecca Bair »
February 10, 4 PM: Anique Jordan »
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Tania Willard, Secwepemc Nation and settler heritage, works within the shifting ideas around contemporary and traditional, often working with bodies of knowledge and skills that are conceptually linked to her interest in intersections between Aboriginal and other cultures. Willard’s curatorial work includes the touring exhibition, Beat Nation: Art Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture (2012-2014), co-curated with Kathleen Ritter and presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2012. In 2016 Willard received the Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art from the Hanatyshyn Foundation, as well as a City of Vancouver Book Award for the catalogue for the exhibition Unceded Territories: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Willard’s ongoing collaborative project, BUSH gallery, is a conceptual land-based gallery grounded in Indigenous knowledges. Willard is an Assistant Professor at UBC Okanagan in Syilx territories, and her current research intersects with land-based art practices.
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.