Inclusive Curating - Ryan Rice

Inuit art plays a significant and distinct role within the field of art histories (Canadian / Circumpolar / Indigenous) and has stalwartly catapulted the nation’s (Canada) creative currency onto a global market. However, it is most often framed, presented or curated from marginal specificities and left to its own devices. The opportunity to open the umbrella designate of “Indigenous” or “Aboriginal” by inserting Inuit art alongside First Nations and Metis art can widen the canon of contemporary Canadian art history/practices to be more inclusive, diverse, and relevant. Inclusive curating affords the opportunity to collapse the divide between First Nations and Inuit practices to champion the critical contributions made from distinctive narratives, aesthetics and cultures. Such creative practices draw from the experience of collective histories framed around nation-state relationships, Indigeneity and cultural/visual sovereignty.

For this paper presentation, I will address the exhibitions Transitions: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art (1997), Transition II: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art from Canada (2001) and “raise a flag: Works from the Indigenous Art Collection” (2017) among others as examples of inclusive curating that have successfully created equity for Inuit art in the broader context of Indigenous and represent the power of the relationships and spaces between cultures and multiple identities.