Indigenous artists express distrust in Art Gallery of Ontario

On June 4, 2024, the Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA) publicly issued a second letter to Stephen Jost, Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the AGO’s Board of Directors, calling out the AGO for not moving “forward in relationality with us”. Stating that “for now, we will not work to share our knowledge to benefit the AGO.”

Indigenous Curator Wanda Nanibush’s departure was reported in Rungh News in December 2023, Political censorship at AGO, say GG Winners, and in January 2024, AGO accused of silencing Indigenous curator. Rungh News’ requests for an interview with the Jost at the AGO have been met with silence.

The context for this story begins with a complaint letter dated October 16, 2023, addressed to Jost, the Israel Museums and Arts, Canada. IMMAC accused Nanibush of holding “hateful opinions”, possessing “unchecked vitriol” and “peddling these lies since 2016”. In part, the concerns related to claims that Nanibush held beliefs that “Israel is involved with genocide and colonialism”, and the denial by Nanibush, that “Jews are indigenous to Israel”. Rungh News notes that none of the claims made by IMMAC, or attributed to Nanibush by IMMAC, have been proven.

On the heels of the complaint letter, Wanda Nanibush’s “departure” from the AGO was announced by Jost via an internal email on November 16, 2023.

A group of Canadian Governor General’s Awards winners (for visual and media arts), by a protest letter dated November 28, 2023 and a video, linked the departure of Nanibush, which included a non-disclosure agreement, as being an “act of political censorship with shades of a new McCarthyism”.

A public press release was issued on November 30, 2023 in which the AGO acknowledge that trust needed to be rebuilt. The AGO made promises in its letter to have “open, honest, and brave conversations”, “to figure out a path forward”, and to reflect on the AGO’s “commitments to the Truth and Reconciliation Report so we can continue our efforts.”  Indigenous artists have not seen evidence of the open and honest conversations which the AGO committed to nine months ago and are asking: “What is happening at that institution? Is it a place where we should be spending energies to share our labour and cultural knowledge? Who is part of the Indigenous advisory that you are calling on? How can they represent the needs of those working in Indigenous arts?”

Rungh News interviewed spokesperson Jennifer Smith, Director, of the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (NIMAC), which represents over 80+ independent media arts organizations across Canada about the latest letter on the ICCA website which, in addition to the ICCA and NIMAC, includes signatories from Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires, Urban Shaman Contemporary Art Coalition and the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre.

In an in-depth interview, Smith noted that the Indigenous arts groups released the second letter with the intention of holding the AGO accountable to the community because “their response wasn’t adequate for what we asked for.” Smith referenced the strong power imbalance between how the AGO functions internally and externally with relation to Indigenous artists, in which the AGO gets to “define the rules of how all communication works”. Smith commented on how some nationally know arts institutions now appear to be taking a “step back” from commitments made over the past decade to Indigenize and decolonize.

While the Indigenous artists and organizations who have signed the second letter are expressing a “clear displeasure” with the AGO, they are not seeking a boycott of the AGO at present. The AGO boycott option remains a possibility amongst many other options but Smith notes:

“… the AGO also needs to answer for who they're choosing to bring in. Are they bringing in business people? Are they bringing in people in the arts? Are they bringing in people, you know, from the territories they're on, or from other territories? … What is the goal of how they're pulling these people in? Is this … tokenism? Are they caring for those people? Because we have a concern for how they're caring for any indigenous people that are in their space. And we don't want to shame people for working in their space, but we want to ensure that they're safe as well, and that, you know, if they need support, that there is community there to support them. So, these are the questions we're asking and trying to get at with within that. So, it's not that there's a boycott, but there are hundreds of people who are very displeased. So, the big question is, how are they gaining access to people, and are they only accessing people who are going to, who are willing, to say ‘yes’ to what they want?”

While Smith and other Indigenous artists and arts groups continue to meet and discuss how to respond to the AGO’s conduct, the AGO has not yet responded publicly to the second letter from Indigenous artists.