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Free // 19+
Join this year's Vancouver Mural Festival guest curators to reflect on their projects, to learn more about different approaches to curating in public space, and to hear behind-the-scenes stories about this year's murals.
Panelists
Jonas Jones (he/him) - Vancouver Mural Festival 2022 Guest Curator
keiko Hart (keiko/they/them) - Vancouver Mural Festival 2022 Guest Curator
Moderator
Natalia Lebedinskaia (she/her) - Director of Creative Projects at Vancouver Mural Festival
The Panelists:
Jonas Jones comes from the village of Átsnach (Tsleil-Waututh) with strong bloodlines running from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) as well. His kwshámin (ancestral name) TsuKwalton comes from the Squamish village of Chʼiyáḵmesh. He is learning and apprenticing under the guidance & support of Ses Siyam (Ray Natraoro), indulging within the Coast Salish laws of art, a system that is passed down from master carver to apprentice. He is honoured to be practicing this craft, as this foundation of art and way of life has been running through his blood for thousands of years. To live & breath a little piece of the old people our swa7am (ancestors) is truly a beautiful thing. @jonasjoness
keiko/恵子 is a guest curator for Vancouver Mural Festival’s 2022 edition. During their term, they are focused on curating works that respond to inquiries of how we mobilize mural artistry and community for climate activism. To (re)assess and (re)imagine environmentally respectful futurisms in the face of ecological emergency, they look to their Japanese Shinto/神道 upbringing that instilled philosophies of reciprocity and caretaking for the natural world—the artists they have curated in this series centre the voices of Indigenous and racialized bodies that are at the forefront of these movements, having risen up to combat the environmental racism that displaced them from their resources and gentrified their communities. keiko’s practice includes roleplaying as a queer chatbot, posing as a digitally glitched out life drawing model, guiding community calisthenics, and live streaming green-screened karaoke performances. Since completing their MFA in Criticism and Curatorial Practice at OCAD University in 2019, they have gone on to direct and facilitate programming at various non-profit organizations and galleries, including C Magazine, the Toronto Biennial of Art, the Blackwood Gallery, and Subtle Technologies. At the latter, keiko helped found the Curatorial Mentorship Program, an initiative that actively advises and supports the next generation of curators in an intergenerational framework of skill and resource sharing developed to endure our changing realities. Connect with them: @cakeoh