Since 1987, the AGGV has had the pleasure of hosting the Art Gallery Paint-In, bringing together local artists, community organizations, and the local community for what has grown to become Vancouver Island’s largest free arts festival, and year after year, it’s our amazing volunteers who are at the heart of it all.
We are delighted to announce that the AGGV has acquired an exceptional work by renowned Cree artist, Kent Monkman. This is the first work by Monkman to enter the AGGV collection and the piece is now on display in our current exhibition In the Flesh: The Nude in Art, Past and Present.
Steven McNeil, AGGV Chief Curator & Director of Collections and Exhibitions, shares much anticipated news about the Gallery’s permanent collections and the diverse selection of works to be exhibited in two newly dedicated Gallery spaces. The ongoing exhibition, A View From Here: Reimagining the AGGV Collections, will boast a rotating selection of some of the Gallery’s finest pieces.
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.
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.