Fine Arts Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator Karla Point has been busy organizing her latest series of workshops, lunchtime talks and special guest visits for the Winter semester. Here’s what’s coming up, but more will be added as details get solidified.
Fine Arts Haahuupa Lunch Series
Meaning “to share the teachings” in Nuu chah nulth, the continuing Haahuupa series offers a chance for us to digest some Indigenous knowledge along with our food. Please bring your lunch to these talks, which are free and open to anyone.
Carey Newman (Feb 2) is a multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker, master carver and author who strives to highlight Indigenous, social and environmental issues in his artistic practice as he examines the impacts of colonialism and capitalism, harnessing the power of material truth to unearth memory and trigger the necessary emotion to drive positive change. He is UVic’s Impact Chair in Indigenous Art Practices, and a professor in the Visual Arts and Art History & Visual Studies departments.
• 12:30-1:30pm Fine Arts room 106: more details here.
Heather Igloliorte (March 24) is an internationally-renowned curator and art historian whose work centres circumpolar Inuit and other Indigenous arts and knowledges within global art contexts (contemporary art exhibitions, public art installations, museum collecting practices, new media art, film productions). She is UVic’s inaugural Canada Research Excellence Chair in Decolonial & Transformational Indigenous Art Practices, and runs the Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab in the Visual Arts department.
• 12:30-1:30pm in Visual Arts room 134: more details here.
Marion Newman (April 10) is a critically acclaimed and award-winning mezzo-soprano, and a voice professor in the School of Music. A driving force for truth and reconciliation within the context of classical music, she is leading colleagues and audiences through long overdue discussions about the very nature of what it means to call something “Canadian music”. As well as being one of Canada’s most accomplished operatic singers, she is the long-running host of the national CBC Radio show, Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
• 12:30-1:30pm in Fine Arts room 106: more details here.
Monthly workshops
Karla’s monthly workshop series is based around three key sessions — REDress: Calls for Justice, Territorial Acknowledgement and Pathways to Reconciliation — which repeat monthly at different times and days to accommodate shifting schedules.
REDress: Calls for Justice workshop: learn more about the REDress movement and the critical ongoing issue of genocide against Indigenous Women & Girls & LGBTQ2S+. Very little progress has been made on achieving the 231 Calls for Justice since the release of the Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls National Inquiry report in 2019. Learn more about the REDress movement and the critical ongoing issue of genocide against MMIWG2S+ people. All Canadian citizens have a role in addressing this and a responsibility to affect change for those who are suffering through the systemic factors of racism and misogyny. “This report is about these beautiful Indigenous people and the systemic factors that lead to their losses of dignity, humanity and, in too many cases, losses of life. This report is about deliberate race, identity and gender-based genocide,” noted Chief Commissioner Marion Buller, who is now UVic’s Chancellor.
• 9:30-10:30am, Thurs, Jan 29 (Fine Arts 106)
• 11:30am-12:30pm Tuesday, Feb 24 (Fine Arts 106)
• 9:30-10:30am Wed, March 4 (Fine Arts 108)
• 10-11am Tues, April 28 (Fine Arts 106)
Territorial Acknowledgement workshop: in this age of Reconciliation with Indigenous People, land acknowledgements are a great way to do your reconciliation work. Learn about why land acknowledgements matter not only for Indigenous People, but for you too! You will also get some insights into how to do your own acknowledgements in everyday life.
• 9:30-10:30am Feb 9 (Fine Arts 106)
• 11:30am-12:30pm Thurs, March 12 (Fine Arts 108)
• 2:30-3:30pm Mon, April 13 (Fine Arts 106)
Pathways to Reconciliation workshop: The Truth and Reconciliation Report and its 94 Calls to Action was released in December 2015, and is a detailed account of what happened to Indigenous children who were physically and sexually abused in government boarding schools, where an estimated 3,200 children died from tuberculosis, malnutrition and other diseases resulting from poor living conditions. Chief Justice Murray Sinclair estimates the death toll to be much higher because burial records were “so poor”. The number of deaths due to abuse were likely not recorded.
• 10:30-11:30am Wed, Feb 18 (Fine Arts 106)
• 9:30-10:30am Wed, March 18 (Fine Arts 106)
• 12:30-1:30pm Thurs, April 23 (Fine Arts 106)
Special guests
Coming up this spring are faculty visits by Indigenous artist, educator and ethnobotanist T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss (Feb 25) and Indigenous filmmaker Harold C. Joe (March 24). Watch for more info coming soon!
About Karla Point
Karla Point Hii nulth tsa kaa is the Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator for the Faculty of Fine Arts. She guides the Faculty’s responses to the TRC Calls to Action, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Action (DRIPA) Plan.
Karla also develops and delivers faculty-wide workshops that gives insights on decolonizing teaching and curriculum, and integrates Indigenous Resurgence initiatives for Fine Arts faculty, staff, students and the UVic community. She consults with Indigenous staff, faculty, local Elders and other knowledge holders when necessary, while also providing support and advocacy for Fine Arts Indigenous Students. Part of the Hesquiaht First Nation, Karla is a life-long learner and UVic alumna with a BA (Humanities, 2003) and LL.B (Law, 2006).