National Gallery Creates Indigenous Department
The National Gallery of Canada has hired Steve Loft and Michelle LaVallee to oversee a new Indigenous department.
Loft has been named vice-president of the department, Indigenous ways and decolonization, effective immediately, and LaVallee as its first director, as of March 21.
“Steven and Michelle will guide the gallery’s work to deepen its relationship with Indigenous communities and nations, locally, nationally and internationally, and lead the work of decolonization and reconciliation through all the gallery does," said director Sasha Suda.
Loft, of Kanien'kehá: ka (Mohawk) and Jewish heritage, most recently was director of strategic initiatives for Indigenous arts and culture at the Canada Council for the Arts. He will be part of the gallery’s executive team and will collaborate closely with Angela Cassie, the gallery’s vice-president of strategic transformation and inclusion.
Steven Loft
"I’m excited to be joining the gallery team at such a transformational time," said Loft. "For Indigenous peoples and others who have not seen themselves in the narratives of this land, it’s time for their stories to be forefront in our shared journey of decolonization and society building. First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives, worldviews and relationship to this land we now know as Canada are fundamental in understanding ourselves, our history and our possible futures. Art shows us the promise of sharing and understanding … it reveals us, to ourselves and to each other, if we let it."
Michelle LaValllee
LaVallee, currently director of the Indigenous Art Centre at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, in Gatineau, Que., said she has dedicated her career to championing Indigenous art and artists in institutions.
"I believe the gallery is a site for storytelling and knowledge sharing with and in service of Indigenous Peoples," she said. "I am invested in change, and work to challenge historical relationships with art and history museums towards respect, trust, reciprocity and accountability towards a new way of engaging with people, space and the land.
"It is an exciting opportunity to work alongside my respected colleagues to build networks of awakened solidarity, fuelling the movement for resurgence, decolonization and reclamation of Indigenous homelands through our contribution to the transformation and future forward direction at the National Gallery of Canada."
Loft, a curator, scholar, writer and media artist, was a Trudeau National Visiting Fellow at Ryerson University in Toronto in 2010. He has worked as Indigenous curator-in-residence at the National Gallery of Canada and was director and curator of the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg, among other postings.
LaVallee is Anishinaabe and a member of the Neyashiingamiing Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Cape Croker, Ont., and has European settler heritage from her mother. She has worked as a curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina from 2007 to 2017.
Source: National Gallery of Canada
