The Indigenous Visual Culture Research Centre (INVC/RC) at OCAD University oversees the development of leading-edge research within the fields of Indigenous Visual Culture and curatorial studies.Through critical essays, exhibitions, and other research projects, the INVC/RC primarily explores Indigenous conceptions of settler-colonial peoples and cultures to promote a connection between global visual culture discourse and Indigenous knowledge/methods.
Ongoing Projects edit
Indigenous View of the Others edit
The project examines ways Indigenous artists have represented European settlers in historical and contemporary art. Indeed, through European artistic, literary and scientific representations of Indigenous people is plentiful there is, by comparison, an obvious lack of literature addressing the reverse. The project outcomes aim to benefit Indigenous originating communities and artists, for whom knowledge is displaced or dispersed, as material heritage is an important cultural resource for the telling of their own histories.
Cape Dorset/ Papunya edit
This project explores historical, political, and social affinities and juxtapositions between two distinct, internationally renowned art-producing Indigenous communities: Cape Dorset (Nunavut, Canada) and Papunya (Northern Territory, Australia). Both small communities have adapted to equally seemingly inhospitable environments, and share striking historical similarities with government intervention. This project explores the idea of "survivance," the resilience and persistence of Indigenous identity and aesthetic while facing external pressures such as colonialism, imperialism, and globalization.
Arctic Amazonia edit
The Arctic and Amazonia have historically been metaphors for the unknown. While for many, they exemplify extremes, both have social, cultural, and aesthetically entangled histories between Indigenous peoples and European outsiders. Recently, both regions have gained international attention as being disproportionately affected by climate change. Arctic Amazonia explores the practical and imaginative relationships that humans have and continue to construct with both these landscapes, and seeks to answer: What can be learned from Indigenous ecologies?
Issues of Indigenous Curatorial edit
In the summer of 2016, Dr. Gerald McMaster invited Rhéanne Chartrand, Curator of Indigenous Art at McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, to conduct research in relation to the development of the course, Issues in Indigenous Curation. Chartrand’s research reexamined the Indigenous art historical record to gain a fuller sense of the emergence and development of Indigenous curatorship, and the key themes, issues, and shifts that emerged out of, or in response to, its articulation.
Global Indigenous Virtual Platform edit
The main objective of the Global Indigenous Virtual Platform is to create online access to information on over 2,000 Indigenous artworks from more than 92 institutions and museums around the world. The main objective is to significantly expand upon an existing digital database and make it publicly accessible. This project proposes to provide the general public with an opportunity to learn more about North America’s colonial history and subsequent Indigenous response to settler culture. It also hopes to provide Indigenous communities with online tools to better trace the trajectory of their artworks and objects, ultimately allowing them access to museum collections.