Visual Arts joins new downtown studio

by | Apr 2, 2026 | Faculty, Graduate, indigenous, News, Research, Visual Arts

We’re excited that UVic’s Visual Arts department is part of Victoria’s newest collective studio and gallery space: The Hourglass. Developed by Vancouver Island Visual Arts Society (who also run downtown’s ambitious 80-artist Rockslide Gallery), with support from the City of Victoria’s Storefront Activation Program, Hourglass is an 8,500-square-foot space housed in the former Volvo dealership at Yates and Cook, now repurposed to house 18 art studios and an exhibition space.

Visual Arts professors Heather Igloliorte (Canada Research Excellence Chair in Decolonial & Transformational Indigenous Art Practices) and Joel Ong (Canada Research Chair in Emergent Digital Art Practices), along with three graduate students, will have dedicated studios in the Hourglass.

“Having studio and presentation space at the Hourglass studios gives us a place to create and a place to connect,” says Visual Arts chair Megan Dickie. “We’re excited to build stronger ties with the Victoria arts community and to see MFA students working alongside our new faculty.”

Visual Arts will also maintain a small project space in the building to share work by students, instructors and community members: the first public presentation was the group exhibition The Work Yet to Come, which ran March 27-29 and featured the work of eight early-career Indigenous student artists.

One of the grad student studios

Like so many arts spaces in Victoria — including the bustling Rockslide itself — the Hourglass location is destined to be short-lived, as the property is slated for redevelopment into a 21-storey mixed-use tower over the next few years. But until then, it will serve as the city’s latest innovative arts space.

Follow the Hourglass here

Gregory Scofield at national repatriation event

by | Mar 23, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Faculty, indigenous, Undergraduate, Writing

After more than a century in the Vatican collection, a Métis model dog sled from the 1920s was repatriated on February 25, with Writing professor Gregory Scofield as the lead expert on the identification and return of the model to its community of origin.

The story was carried across a number of national news outlets, notably including CBC, the Globe & Mail and the Canadian Press. Scofield (far left) was pictured in the national coverage alongside (from right) Sherry Ferrel Racette (University of Regina), Victoria Pruden (Métis National Council), Governor General Mary Simon, His Excellency Whit Fraser, and the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity & Culture.

The model sled — made from leather, wood and glass beads — was one of thousands of items sent to Rome in 1925 by missionaries around the world for an exhibit organized by Pope Pius XI. Now, after decades of calls for their return, the sled was one of 62 items repatriated to Indigenous Peoples from the Vatican last year.

“We’re not simply opening a box. We’re welcoming something very special home,” said Pruden during the ceremony. “We’re beginning a new chapter, a chapter that’s grounded in relationship, kinship and connection.” Métis officials say they’ll be working with experts — including Scofield — to determine which community the sled came from.

“Seeing this artifact in its rightful place is a potent reminder that the work of reconciliation is worthwhile and produces tangible results,” noted the Governor General at the event. Watch a video of the unveiling here.

Repatriating and teaching beadwork

As a Red River Metis of Cree, Scottish and European descent, award-winning poet and memoirist Gregory Scofield practices traditional 19th century Cree-Metis floral beadwork and is an acknowledged expert in the field. He also connects it through his teaching by offering a course on Indigenous women’s resistance writing and material art, which combines hands-on learning in traditional Cree-Metis beadwork with readings, films and writing practice centered on resurgence and resistance.

“Because everything happened for me at that kitchen table . . . I wanted to be able to bring that mental, emotional and tactile experience to students, who really have very little understanding or knowledge of Indigenous history or the impacts of colonial violence toward Indigenous women,” he explains. “I teach my students how Indigenous women used beadwork as a way to resist colonial violence, as a way of maintaining and preserving identity—but also as a way of telling stories. It’s beadwork as a form of resistance.”

Another form of resistance is Scofield’s history of repatriating beadwork pieces — a practice which began years ago when he noticed a beaded pocket-watch holder in a Royal BC Museum display mislabeled as “Victoriana,” when he recognized it as a piece of 19th century Cree-Metis beadwork. He holds many such pieces in his own collection.

“I often refer to myself as an ‘unintentional curator’ because a lot of specifically Cree-Metis pieces are folded into other First Nations or Victoriana exhibits, because curators haven’t any idea about us as a people and our unique artforms,” he says. “By misidentifying them, the stories and geography are stripped away, and communities are stripped of their identity too.”

Ever the poet, Scofield sees this as more than just repatriation. “It’s about giving these pieces their stories back.”

 

Paul Walde on how art can shape our relationship with the environment

by | Mar 18, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, climate, Events, Faculty, Visual Arts

Weather is one of the forces that shape our daily lives, yet we rarely think of it in terms of art. But for award-winning intermedia artist, composer, curator and University of Victoria Department of Visual Arts professor Paul Walde, weather is so much more than just the title of his latest exhibit, Paul Walde: Weather Conditions. 

Walde’s body of work has long explored unexpected interconnections between landscape, identity and technology, most notably by his 2013 site-specific sound performance Requiem for a Glacier, which featured a 55-piece choir and orchestra filmed live on the Farnham Glacier in BC’s Purcell Mountains. Running until April 11 at UVic’s downtown Legacy Gallery, Weather Conditions — curated by Carolyn Butler Palmer, the Williams Legacy Chair in the Department of Art History and Visual Studies — offers a double exhibit of site-specific video installations, both reflecting weather and art history in unique ways. Paul offers his insights with this Expert Q&A. 

Q. Weather is one aspect of the human experience that everyone shares: we predict it, discuss it, try to avoid it and arrange our lives around it. Why bring it into a gallery space?

A. Another aspect of the human experience is that we’re altering our climate through our actions, and this is altering the weather. Extreme weather events are on the rise and there is new concern that, if we continue on the path we’re on, the low-lying clouds that do a lot to reflect sunlight and keep the Earth cool could disappear, leaving only the higher altitude clouds which will accelerate climate change exponentially by allowing more sunlight in and trapping that heat. As an artist, I’m interested in how cultural attitudes shape our relationship with the environment. 

Q. Your creative practice has been engaged with environmental issues for the past 30 years. How can art bring awareness to issues like climate change in ways that science or politics can’t?

A. The great thing about art is that it can present information to people in experiential ways, including emotional and spiritual dimensions. This is a very different experience than being told something. Science and politics tend to tell people things but, as a professor, I’ve found folks really don’t like to be told anything. It’s more effective to create experiences that allow people to draw their own conclusions. This way, the information is internalized and becomes a part of their own thought processes, so the level of engagement and uptake is greater. The duration of my work is also important in this, as these longer works provide opportunities for people to think for themselves—which is in direct opposition to the “attention economy” and how content is consumed on social-media platforms. 

Q. You often stage your performances in challenging locations highlighting the natural environment — glaciers, lakes and, most recently, old-growth forests — then pair them with meditative music that you compose. What’s your intention with these interdisciplinary juxtapositions?

A. I believe that culture comes from the land, where one is in the world that shapes who they are. This attitude has been affirmed and informed by the work that I’ve been doing with the Awi’nakola Foundation over the past six years. By bringing obvious cultural activities like opera, classical music and art handling into the natural environment, I’m essentially saying that these sites are cultural. The fact that contemporary urban societies don’t seem to recognize this is part of my point. I’d add that cultural values that don’t make this connection are the main reason we’re facing impending environmental catastrophe. What could be more valuable than clean water, clean air and abundant biodiverse ecosystems? Yet here we are feeding water to data centres that are also using vast amounts of energy, making it harder to transition to clean energy.

Q. Both pieces in this exhibit — “Of Weather (For Geoff Hendricks)” and “Tom Thomson Centennial Swim” — reference the work of other artists. How important is it to acknowledge the history of art, and the role of the individual artist, in your work? 

A. Art history is happening all around us all the time.Acknowledging this history is another way of acknowledging where aspects of cultural thought come from, good or bad. For me, art history is sometimes a scaffolding of ideas to build upon and other times it’s something to push back upon. For example, the work of the Group of Seven was very dominant when I was growing up in northern Ontario, where the Group made their first trips. As a young artist, however, their approach didn’t connect with me. Since then, I’ve attempted to make alternative landscape art that deals with the complex issues that frame our relationship with the environment.

Q. Tell us about the “image ballet” that will be performed on March 28. What’s the intention of having pictures of clouds move around an indoor environment, and how does that reflect the original staging of this piece?  

A. For the past 25 years the artworld has become more globalized and mobile. There are now dozens of international biennials and art fairs. Behind the scenes in these events are armies of art-handlers who are moving, setting upand taking down these shows. There is, of course, also a massive carbon footprint connected with these activities. By moving images of clouds around, I’m referring to how we as humans are changing the weather and are therefore responsible for it. And, on another level, because the “image ballet” involves large canvases being moved by art handlers, I’m referring to the art world’s culpability in all of this. 

Weather Conditions runs until April 11 with two live musical performances on Saturday, March 28, at Legacy Gallery (630 Yates). Registration is required for the live musical performances.

A media kit containing high-resolution photos of Paul Walde and his exhibit Paul Walde: Weather Conditions is available on Dropbox. 

In My Day brings verbatim HIV/AIDS experiences to the stage

by | Mar 9, 2026 | Faculty, Theatre, Undergraduate

The cast of Phoenix Theatre’s In My Day (Photo: Dean Kalyan)

On March 12, the Phoenix Theatre opened their final mainstage production of the semester, In My Day, written by Rick Waines. Waines is a Victoria playwright whose work uses autofiction and verbatim material to discuss his experiences living with HIV and the historical impacts HIV has on communities. This play is no different, using themes of joy, care and connection to tell the story of life in the queer community during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The performance is supported by the SSRHC project “HIV In My Day” which is a collection of interviews with long-term HIV survivors and their caregivers. The interviews focus on their experience with the epidemic, and Waines used these interviews to structure his play, incorporating nearly one hundred survivor’s voices.

Waines himself was diagnosed with HIV when he was 21, which became a driving factor for writing the play. “I wrote this for those of us who survived,” he says, and considers it important for us to look back and remember historically important stories like these.

Playwright Rick Waines

Director Roy Surette

A new script

As a play, In My Day was first workshopped in 2021 in the Belfry Theatre’s SPARK festival, then later performed in 2023 by Vancouver’s ZeeZee Theatre at the Cultch. Since then, it has been reworked to suit a Victoria audience, becoming the play that will be performed on the Phoenix stage with guest director Roy Surrette.

When reworking the play, Waines decided to change the structure by adding himself as a character. He describes this character as “a guy named Rick, who’s transcribing these interviews poorly and slowly.” Including Rick opened the opportunity to introduce additional characters from Waines’ personal life — Laurie Rose and Pei Lim. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have conversations with the dead,” he says about writing characters based on his friends. “Because I miss them and they meant a lot to me.”

From “HIV In My Day” to In My Day

The SSRHC project that the play is based began with Nathan Lachowski, who’s in the School of Public Health and Social Policy. It began as a community-lead project where collaborators and researchers interviewed survivors of HIV/AIDS and their caregivers between 2017-2020 across Vancouver. The interviews focused on their experiences living through the epidemic, and created the collection of oral history in the form of video, audio, and transcripts that is now held in UVic’s Special Collections.

Sasha Kovacs, an associate professor in UVic’s theatre department, is the partnership liaison for the SSRHC project where she ensures that everyone involved in this project is supported. “I like to think of myself as the connector between and individual involved in this project, and all the other parts that are a part of it,” she says.

Her role also entails encouraging artists and researchers to think about what it means to stage oral histories. “What does performance do to both archival and to oral history in terms of activating that material?” she asks, emphasizing the importance of understanding the backstory of the play’s content.

Cast member Zaafir Devji (above) & with  Emma Moon, Nyx Martel & Patrick Jaworek (Photo: Dean Kalyan)

Working with students to understand the history

In all iterations of the play so far, Waines has worked with a young cast who don’t have firsthand experience of living through the HIV/AIDS epidemic like he does, so educating them is a priority. By the end of the process, Waines notices how deeply the cast knows the story they’re telling. “Not just the dates, names, and drugs, but the feeling in their bodies,” he says. “They’re digging into it … it’s clear to me that there’s a lot of feelings going on.”

Of course, a theatre production always comes with struggle, especially a huge show with blocking, choreography, and dancing like this one. Even so, Waines is impressed with the student cast and how quickly they were off book during rehearsals. “Amazing,” he calls them, “I’ve been thrilled with their energy and their commitment.”

Fulfilling theatre’s mandate

Last year, the Theatre department generated new department values, so it’s important that In My Day’s production fits within those. Kovacs describes the three values as using a good heart and mind to commit to nurturing an environment of passionate creativity, to think about health and wellness as one of the foundations of their work, and to create an inclusive community of belonging.

There’s a level of risk when taking on In My Day since it’s a new Canadian play, but Kovacs views it as “creative risk taking”. In the process of working on this production, they’re seeing places that the play needs additional work, and with their new value about uplifting passionate creativity, the theatre department is happy to take on that risk to uplift and continue working on this story.

Because In My Day is such an emotionally heavy piece, it’s necessary to consider the cast and crews health and wellness. “I think it’s something we need to talk about more,” comments Kovacs. “We’ve done some good work on preparing the company for that,” she continues, saying it’s important to question how they’re keeping their creative team healthy and safe.

Regarding an inclusive community, Kovacs explains that this goes beyond the theatre department to respond to the needs of the broader UVic community. In My Day reflects this value especially well since without Lachowski and the School of Public Health and Social Policy, the Phoenix wouldn’t have had the chance to put on this play. “It provides an opportunity for the students to understand that their work serves larger goals and priorities,” Kovacs says.

The future of In My Day

Going forward, the department hopes to highlight more historically important stories like they are with this production. There’s a history of research-informed creation existing in the theatre department, but they aren’t being produced. “This is an opportunity to think about now producing this [kind of] work,” says Kovacs.

Additionally, with his role as librettist, Waines is using the source archive for a new ambient, electronic verbatim opera titled “i am beauty” with Pacific Opera Victoria.

Get tickets for In My Day, which runs March 12-21 at UVic, including a pre-show lecture at 7pm Friday, March 13 and a special March 14 of community health day that includes admission to the show.

—Claudia Phillips, with files from John Threlfall 

Orion guest artist Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, Faculty, Graduate, indigenous, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, Visual Arts

All are welcome to hear visiting Orion Series visiting artist Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, a professor at the University of California, speak on “The Concreteness of Imagination”: 6:30pm Thursday, March 12 in room A162 of the Visual Arts Building. Free & open to all. This talk is presented by our Art History & Visual Studies department.

She’ll also be leading the 2-day workshop Printing Resistance on March 10 & 11 (10am–5pm) at the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab (room A134) in our Visual Arts building.

For the workshop, you’ll get to design an image for printing based on social issues based on protest, activism & Indigenous resistance + learn a grassroots technique used in protest movements. You’ll keep their printing press after the workshop. Register here. 

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie is a Professor in the Native American Studies Department, and Faculty Director of the Gorman Museum of Native American Art at University of California Davis, known for photography, social commentary and video. Her presentation will include recent photo projects and portraits.

Tsinhnahjinnie’s work is held in several collections including National Museum of the American Indian (New York and Washington DC), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis), Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art (Norman), Museum Volkenkunde (Leiden, Netherlands), International Centre of Bethlehem, Dar Annadwa Addawliya (Bethlehem, Palestine) and the National Museums of Scotland (Edinburgh).

Tsinhnahjinnie was born into the Bear clan of the Taskigi Nation, born for Tsi’naajinii of the Dine’ Nation, adopted into the Eagle House of Metlakatla, adopted into the Killer Whale Fin House of Klukwan.Hunka to Muriel Antoine of Mission South Dakota. For the past 22 years, Tsinhnahjinnie has been living and working on Wintun land, located in Northern California.

Makareta & Moana: mentor & mentee,
Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (2026), Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie photo

Bringing Regalia to Life Community Feast

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Faculty, indigenous, Theatre, Visual Arts

AHVS professor Mique’l Dangeli with a piece of new regalia (photo: Claudia Phillips)

Have you ever seen Indigenous regalia danced into life? On March 5, the Indigenous dance group Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield) will be performing in the Indigenous Law wing of the Fraser Building, where they’re debuting new choreography and handmade regalia. The group is led by Ts’msyen artist Dr. Mique’l Dangeli, Indigenous Arts professor with Art History & Visual Studies, and her husband, Nisga’a artist  Mike Dangeli.

All are welcome to this free “Bringing Regalia to Life Community Feast“, running 6 – 8pm Thursday, March 5, in UVic’s Fraser Building Community gathering space (B121) in the  Indigenous Law wing. 

For the past 20 years, Mique’l and Mike have shared the leadership of this intergenerational multi-Nation dance group, whose members’ home communities are in Southeast Alaska and Northern BC. Git Hayetsk has performed nationally and internationally at private and invited ceremonies, and at public arts events. Most of their dancers have grown up in the city, and their participation in the Git Hayetsk is the primary way they have connected with and practiced their culture.

Since moving to Victoria in 2024, Mike and Mique’l have welcomed Nisga’a and Ts’msyen families into the Git Hayetsk by holding weekly dance practices in UVic’s Fine Arts building and Metchosin’s Pearson College. The majority of their new members are UVic students or alumni, and this is the first time they have ever danced their people’s songs and dances in their lives.

With her work at UVic, Dangeli emphasizes the connection between performing and visual arts: for her, there’s no disconnect between the two. “This is a part of not only my research, but my research creation,” she explains, saying art and dance has been a part of her life since her early school age. This connection between performance and visuals is also reflected in Git Hayetsk through the dancing, drumming, and wearing of original regalia.

To make it all happen, they’ve been using two new campus resources: the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab and the Indigenous Law wing in the Fraser building.

Why perform in the Law building?

On the surface, it seems unconventional to perform in the Indigenous Law wing, but Dangeli says it’s actually the perfect place for Git Hayetsk. “It’s a beautiful space that we’ve really found a home within,” she says. Prior to the building’s completion in Fall 2025, there was no dedicated on-campus space for dance groups like hers to practice; until recently, Git Hayetsk practiced either in the lobby of the Fine Arts building or the theatre at Pearson College in Metchosin.

Although the acoustics of the Fine Arts lobby were great, the dancers found the tile and concrete flooring hard on their joints and became uncomfortable when dancing for longer periods of time. The new wing, Dangeli says, is a much better fit. “They have a beautiful gathering space that’s a community hall … it’s essentially a long house inside of the law building.” Additionally, Dangeli explains that the wooden architecture is a better fit for their cultural practices. “It’s actually the most appropriate place for us to practice on campus and to hold this event.”

Making regalia in the Taqsiqtuut lab

Not only is the new Indigenous Law wing an amazing on campus resource, but so is the Taqsiqtuut lab. Every weekend for the past four months, Mike and Mique’l have hosted regalia-making workshops for Git Hayetsk members to work on their handmade regalia, with the support of First People’s Cultural Council. “We’re grateful for the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab’s support of this work, because we wouldn’t have a place to gather and create without them,” says Dangeli.

Their regalia features dance aprons, tunics and collars, all made from leather with a fringe that enhances the movement of both the dancer and the regalia. “Each design is unique to the person wearing it and is a reflection of their family and their rights,” Dangeli explains. “We are matrilineal and our identities are defined by who our mothers and who our grandmothers are. This is an expression and an assertion of their matrilineal line and their identities.”

Maintaining cultural connections through art

An essential part of Git Hayetsk is the community and cultural connection it fosters. Many members were unable to engage with their traditional dances due to the 20th century Potlatch bans criminalizing Indigenous song and dance. “It’s not just taking the songs that survived the Potlatch ban — which are very few,” Dangeli points out, “but it’s also about ensuring that we’re creating people who have independence within our culture.”

This independence involves owning their own regalia, reclaiming their languages and experiencing the songs and dances that are their hereditary rights. Git Hayetsk members spend  four to six hours together every weekend, making regalia and dancing. Dangeli says these activities have “created stronger bonds between my dancers” and built additional trust as they assist each other when making regalia. “It’s been really beautiful to see the artistic gifts that emerge in each one of our dancers.”

Working in the Taqsituut lab

A never-before-seen performance

This particular event stands out in several ways for Git Hayetsk. showing and dancing their regalia for the first time is culturally important to the group. “For our people,” says Dangeli, “it’s the beginning of the life of that ceremonial belonging. So, we’re literally bringing these items to life in front of everybody.”

Some dancers are also trying out a new task in this performance, shifting roles within the group:  a handful of dancers are also drumming, another first for this performance.

At the Community Feast on March 5, they will also have Nisga’a/ Ts’msyen filmmaker Nick Dangeli showing an excerpt of his film — made with the support of the Taqsiqtuut Lab — which documents the dancers coming together as a community to make regalia. This event is also supported by UVic’s Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence series.

Additionally, they’re doing new choreography that highlights new skills and emphasizes the importance of the space the group is performing in. Dangeli explains that the dancers who’ve been with them for a while are comfortable with the basics, so she crafted new choreography that is specific to the Indigenous Law wing. Moreover, she’s gotten to create choreography that will highlight with their youngest dancers. “Which is so fun for the little hyper things,” she laughs.

—Claudia Phillips