Topic: Awareness for Indigenous art
Problem: In the past Indigenous artwork has been stolen and treated as artifacts, often being placed in museums. However, there is now (and always has been) talented artists creating relevant and significant pieces. In addition, there aren’t many spaces available for Indigenous people to show this artwork. (note: this is not in the sense of ceremonial material being created now, but artwork intended to be shared with the public)
There certainly is strain between the whole of the Canadian art community and Indigenous art communities. There has been some effort to reconcile this by some institutions incorporating Indigenous work into contemporary collections, but lately it has seemed to die down. “Some credit this to the fact that most curators, arts administrators, funders, policy makers and decision makers are non-Indigenous gatekeepers to the institutions.” I feel like the former may be true, and that there are opportunities missed to offer reconciliation through art.
There is also the appalling issue of appropriation through Indigenous art that has extremely hurt the community. Canadians have stolen, commodified, and made money off of Indigenous designs. I think that it will take a long time to reach reconciliation about this in particular, but there are ways that we can start.