Acts of resistance: artist talk

Tickets

Cost: $15.00
Find tickets: here

Join Coast Salish artists Ronnie Dean Harris, Marissa Nahanee, Ocean Hyland and Brandon Gabriel - featured in MOV’s Acts of Resistance exhibition - for an in-depth panel discussion exploring their individual art practices and approach to designing “protest art”, notably their work commissioned for Project Sparrow. This 2018 Greenpeace action exposed threats to local waters posed by increased tanker traffic in response to the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Pipeline project.

The Project Sparrow bridge blockade featured seven 40 foot uniquely designed streamers dramatically propelled and flown by activists suspended beneath the Second Narrows bridge. This 38-hour action drew the attention of news networks and independent media outlets who transmitted live and recorded footage, creating global awareness of the TMX project and its violation of Indigenous rights. The streamers, several designed by Host Nation artists, and currently on display at MOV, serve as visual reminders of the First Nations territories and communities compromised by the pipeline expansion. Indigenous Nations have struggled to protect their land entitlement, cultural heritage and basic human rights since European contact. Indigenous design motifs and displays of visual culture effectively serve as symbolic and lived opposition to discourses and practices of colonization: they signal an inexplicable connection to the land and its biodiversity, while expressing the obligation of indigenous peoples to protect their traditional territories. When artists invoke traditional designs in a protest setting their presence can deliver cracks to dominant discourses and increase awareness to environmental and social injustices, propelling necessary dialogue.

Guest artists will speak to their individual approaches to protest design, their art practices and the cultural and aesthetic influences that inform their work. This is a rare opportunity to hear from diverse artists within Indigenous communities as they address the challenges and successes of representing their Nations and the politics of sovereignty through individual artistic practices.

Event ticket includes FREE admission to our feature exhibitions Acts of Resistance, Haida Now: A Visual Feast of Innovation and Tradition and c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city (reg. $20.50). Consider arriving early with your event ticket to view exhibits.
More info