Asian and Indigenous Art Featured at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

A grant helps this British Columbia art gallery to continue its decolonization efforts with respect to artistic curation and its promotion of artists of Asian descent.

A decolonized institution

With a view to grounding the institution in the current era and diversifying its audiences by breaking down artistic directorship models inherited from the colonizing practices of old, director Michelle Jacques is working to assemble a team with diverse backgrounds. Jacques is also continuing to shine a light on local Indigenous artists, particularly Anishinaabe artists Olivia Whetung and Bev Koski.

The riches of Asian art

The gallery is also fulfilling its mission to promote its considerable collection of Asian art. It disseminates and highlights the work of local artists of Asian descent, like Karen Tam, whose project With wings like clouds hung from the sky re-imagines the 1930s Victoria studio of Lee Nam, a young Chinese painter known only through the diaries of Emily Carr.