David Garneau: Métis art lacking in National Gallery

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As a Métis performance artist, David Garneau has frequently dressed as executed Métis leader Louis Riel and presented a hangman’s noose to a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald. 

This week, the Regina artist was in Ottawa being honoured by the National Gallery of Canada for his art practice in the very federal institution founded in 1880 during Macdonald’s time in office.

Wearing a black ribbon shirt, Garneau used the occasion to make a plea to the gallery to include more Métis art in its collection and exhibitions. He had toured the gallery last summer looking for the right place to exhibit some of his art and found a “shocking” paucity of Métis art. 

Garneau and seven other artists are all recipients of the 2023 Governor General’s Awards in Media and Visual Arts and were preparing for an exhibition of their works.

The lack of Métis art “did surprise me,” he said in an interview. “I thought there would be more. It’s kind of shocking, I’ll be honest. I took photos of what they were and I’ll try to make them into a piece at some point.”

In a question-and -answer session with journalists at the gallery, Garneau was asked how he felt having some examples of his paintings exhibited in the gallery.

“Personally, I’m very excited to be in the collection of the National Gallery, temporarily,” he replied. The accent was on the word “temporarily.” He then declared, with gallery executives nearby, that Métis art is lacking in the building.

Unlike the other artists who received a Governor General’s Award, Garneau was not just honoured for his art. As winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award, he was also honoured for his expertise as a curator and critic.

The other artists who received Governor General’s Awards this year include Grace Nickel, a Winnipeg ceramicist; Evergon, a lens-based artist from Montreal; FASTWURMS, two multi-disciplinary artists (Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse) from Mulmur, Ont; Germaine Koh, a Vancouver multimedia artist; Shannon Walsh, a Vancouver filmmaker; Tim Whiten, a Toronto-based creator of cultural objects; and Nettie Wild, a Vancouver filmmaker.

Usually, all the mini-exhibits honouring the artists are housed in one room. This year, the mini-exhibitions are scattered throughout the building. Garneau’s work, for example, is placed in area where historical Indigenous art is exhibited, Evergon’s baroque-looking work is in the European gallery where baroque art is located. ■

The Governor General’s Award winners’ art is on view at the National Gallery until March 3, 2024.

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