Wanda Nanibush, Curator of Indigenous Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, at the Gallery in Toronto on January 25th.Chris Young/Canadian Press
Wanda Nanibush, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Indigenous curator, announced last week that the museum would issue a mutual decision after years of outspokenness caused friction with galleries and parts of the art world and clashed with Israel. I quit my job as I called it. Hamas war.
Nanibush is a prominent Anishinaabe curator who joined the AGO in 2016 as the inaugural curator of Indigenous art and co-head of the Indigenous and Canadian arts department. She recently won the Toronto Book Award for her co-authored book. Museum relocation He was also the jurist for the 2023 Sobey Art Award.
She has also publicly supported the Palestinian cause in recent days – including in since-deleted social media posts seen by the Globe. and Mail – and past appearances have included a 2016 feature in Canadian Art magazine. In her story, she combined the experiences of Indigenous people living in Canada with those of Palestinians. “Colonization marks the before and after of a fundamental transformation of identity through loss,” she wrote.
AGO chief executive Stefan Jost wrote to gallery staff last week about Mr Nanibush’s candor.
“One of the many things I always heard from Wanda was her honesty, which led to difficult conversations at times, including in recent weeks,” Jost said in a memo obtained by the Globe. ” he said. “She is unwavering Inserting Indigenous art and artists with grace, integrity, and pride. This has changed our historical understanding and our collective future in museums. ”
The AGO confirmed Nanibush’s resignation, but did not give a reason, citing personnel reasons. Nanibush could not be reached for comment.
Three AGO officials told the Globe that Nanibush’s vocal opinions, not just about Palestinians and Israelis, but also the subject matter, have benefited the AGO since her arrival. It is said that it not only brought about this, but also made some staff and supporters uneasy. The Globe did not identify these people because it was not authorized to discuss the matter.
However, this situation highlights the tension that can exist in the role of institutional curators: should they let the art and artists speak for themselves, or should they contribute to the conflictual nature of art? .
One of the people said Nanibush’s resignation was a mutual decision to allow him to speak more freely without being expected to represent a nationally recognized institution. This is consistent with what Mr. Jost said in his letter to AGO staff.
National division over the Israel-Hamas war spills over into the art world
The cultural world is collapsing due to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The divisions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war have spilled over into the art world in recent weeks. Freedom of expression and dissent are core tenets of the arts, but the war has upset the delicate balance between those tenets and arts organizations dependent on donations, patronage, and community connections.
There is a growing number of Indigenous scholars, activists and artists in Canada. expressed solidarity with the PalestiniansThey believe they have been subjected to treatment similar to that experienced by indigenous peoples, under conditions they describe as a colonial state that exterminated and abused them.
For example, at an Edmonton Oilers game earlier this month, Paul First Nation’s Juno Award-winning music group the Bearhead Sisters brought kaffiyeh (traditional Arab headdress) and sang the Canadian national anthem from the ice. They later expressed their solidarity directly. with the Palestinians.
But some Canadians active in a support group for the Israel Museum in Jerusalem claim that Nanibush “constantly denies that Jews are indigenous to Israel.” In a letter leaked on social media this week and seen by the Globe, the social media outlet wrote to Jost accusing Nanibush of “posting inflammatory and inaccurate abuse against Israel.” (The letter does not mention any specific posts, and Nanibush appears to have since deleted all social media.)
A person with knowledge of Nanibush’s reasons for leaving the AGO said the letter had no influence on her decision to leave the organization and that he disagreed with some of its contents.
The letter’s signatories included Pearl Berman, executive director of the Israel Museum Arts Group in Canada.Sarah Angell, former arts journalist and chatelaine He is an editor and currently runs the Art Canada Institute, a non-profit organization based at Massey College, University of Toronto.
In an emailed statement, Berman pointed out that the letter did not ask Nanibush to leave the gallery, but said it did not include “substantial” anti-Semitic training and that the AGO He urged the use of memory alliances. A working definition of anti-Semitism.
“As police have noted, this is a time of heightened hatred against Jews in Toronto and around the world,” Berman added.
The IHRA, an international organization focused solely on Holocaust issues, has proposed a non-legally binding definition of anti-Semitism, which could be used to silence critics of Israel. Some people think that there is.
More than 1,500 members of the publishing industry were arrested during the Israeli-Hamas war when demonstrators disrupted last week’s Scotiabank Giller Awards gala to protest sponsor banks’ funding of Israeli military companies and were later indicted. They signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and peacekeeping. Charges are dismissed.
And last week, a media organization withdrew its sponsorship from the US National Book Awards over concerns that the finalists would make pro-Palestinian remarks on stage, which is exactly what happened.
While Canada’s arts institutions have spent recent years working more closely with Indigenous curators and artists, three of the country’s flagship museums and galleries have lost Indigenous curators in recent years. In addition to Nanibush’s departure from the AGO, Lucy Bell left the Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives in 2020, and Greg Hill lost his job at the National Gallery of Canada last November.
