Mel Granley, AGGV Assistant Curator, describes the importance of Kali Spitzer’s Photographic work, which “embraces the stories of contemporary BIPOC, queer and trans bodies, creating representation that is self determined, with her collaborative process being informed by the desire to rewrite the visual histories of Indigenous bodies beyond a colonial lens.”
Curators of the exhibition Symbiosis, Jaimie Isaac, former AGGV Chief Curator, and Mel Granley, AGGV Assistant Curator, spoke with a sample selection of participating artists from the show and explored resonant themes between works, and ideas around fungi and forest ecologies.
Keep your eyes open for pop up libraries in select locations in Victoria starting on Sept 12 through to Oct 22. Blackspace Library, led by multi-disciplinary artist Kemi Craig, emerged as a way to share books authored by and about artists of the Black diaspora, Black visual culture, and Black creative expression.
Tattoos have had a presence in my life since I was a small child. My maternal grandpa has a single tattoo: a rose on his shoulder with my grandma’s name that he got after they were married.
Piles of illustrations have accumulated over the past few months, as encouraged by co-curators Mel Granley and Jaimie Isaac, of all sorts of mushrooms and fungi inspired by the exhibition. Viewers are welcomed to share their artworks to showcase the intrinsic communal feeling inspired by our favourite symbiotic fungal friends.
Marianne Nicolson, Gerry Ambers and Siku Allooloo share a glimpse into the layers of conversations that unfolded throughout the exhibition, Woven In: Indigenous Women’s Activism and Media.
By Mel Granley, AGGV Assistant Curator (Michif and mixed-European)
The annual festivities of National Indigenous Peoples Day provide an opportunity for everyone in so-called “Canada” to embrace and celebrate the peoples who have tended to this land for time immemorial. Historically, this event has existed as a way for Indigenous people to uplift and show pride for our cultures in the face of discrimination and oppression. Today, while Indigenous people continue to push against those forces, June 21st has become a day for everyone to come together and consider their positions on the lands they live, and to celebrate the nations who have stewarded these beautiful lands for generations upon generations.
By Mel Granley, AGGV Assistant Curator
If you’re excited by all things mycorrhizal, then the AGGV’s upcoming exhibition Symbiosis is the show for you!
By Rain Cabana Boucher
In 2021, I was walking to my studio when I received a call from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. I was unsure what the call could be about and was taken aback when I heard that I was a recipient of the Takao Tanabe Prize…