Western Canada's art magazine since 2002
16 November 2021 Vol 6 No 23 ISSN 2561-3316 © 2021
Portia Priegert
From the Editor
Over the last week or so, I’ve been immersed in grant writing, popping up occasionally to post a story, and then sinking back into a dark miasma of mandates and mission statements. Am I the only one who gets a sore head trying to think within the stolid bureaucratic parameters of grant applications while also exciting the artists and curators serving on the adjudicating panel, folks who want to be wowed by visions of audacious originality?
Of course, Galleries West is grateful for public funding, and probably wouldn’t survive without it. And, of course, we appreciate a process that tries to be fair and transparent, as much as that is possible.
But, at the same time, I struggle to find a consistent voice. On the one hand, the process seems to elicit a narcissistic impulse – confident assertions of grand outcomes, which can feel akin, if not to future faking, at least to shameless self-promotion. And, on the other, there’s the need for humility through relational compassion and respectful inclusion of those disadvantaged by rapacious systems of colonial capitalism.
This is, of course, somewhat akin to the dance of making art, finding the sweet spot where control and freedom play, opening wonderful new possibilities. Hitting that flow is a wondrous thing, though I can’t say I’ve ever experienced it while writing a grant. Instead, I swing back and forth, until the deadline forces closure.
But on the positive side, in analyzing Galleries West’s coverage over the last year as part of the grant-writing exercise, I am pleased to report the magazine has been much more diverse, thanks in part to a broader range of gallery exhibitions, but also to writers who are both more representative and working to be more inclusive.
This issue is no exception. We have a story about the Yukon Prize's inaugural show, and exhibitions by two painters, Ben Reeves and Annie Bérubé. There’s also a video about Emily Hermant and a review of a new book about Sandra Meigs. But what prompted the deepest reflection was Soundings, an exhibition primarily by Indigenous artists that, in the opinion of reviewer Tyler Stewart, challenges viewers to move from extractive modes of hearing to relational listening. Somehow, that seems to offer a helpful pointer for grant writing.
Looking forward, our next issue may prompt more reflection. We’re working on a story about Boss Bodies, portraits of Vancouver’s mega-rich developers by Rowan Melling, who took up the project out of despair over the city’s affordability crisis. That story butts up against a review of an exhibition at the art museum founded by one of those tycoons, Michael Audain, where staff were tasked with creating a new relational context for works by the late Quebec abstractionist Jean Paul Riopelle that are unquestionably extractive of Indigenous cultures. As a final head-twister, I’m midway through a memoir by Jesse Wente, the first Indigenous chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, the organization with the application forms that have so tested me.
I can hardly wait to see this all come together!
Until next time,
CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Genesee Keevil, Mark Mushet, Steven Ross Smith, Tyler J. Stewart, Laura St. Pierre, Helena Wadsley
We acknowledge the support of the Government of Alberta Media Fund, the Government of Canada Special Measures for Journalism Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts.
