Carleton University’s Department of History is hosting its next Shannon Lecture on “Visibility/Invisibility: Art and the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo ‘67,” which will be given by Carmen Robertson, a professor at the University of Regina. This event is co-sponsored by Carleton’s School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies.
When: Friday, Nov. 3, 2017 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Multi-Media Lab (Room 482), Discovery Centre, MacOdrum Library, Carleton University
Info: This event is free and open to the public. Lecture begins at 2:30 p.m., followed by a reception nearby in the History Lounge at 433 Paterson Hall.
Media are invited to attend.
Robertson will talk about notions of visibility and invisibility in relation to planning, executing, and archiving contemporary Indigenous art for the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo ‘67. Included under the auspices of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, today the pavilion is mostly viewed as a significant moment in the history of contemporary Indigenous arts, yet its history remains fraught with issues of censorship and colonial politics that have continued to plague the arts. After an analysis of the pieces commissioned by artists from across Canada, including works by Norval Morrisseau and Alex Janvier, the Shannon Lecture will culminate with a conversation between Robertson and John Moses, a member of the Six Nations Delaware band and Carleton doctoral candidate, about the legacy of the Indians of Canada Pavilion.
About Carmen Robertson
Robertson is a professor of Art History at the University of Regina in their Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance. An Indigenous scholar of Scots Lakota ancestry from Saskatchewan, her research centres on contemporary Indigenous arts and constructions of Indigeneity in popular culture. She published Norval Morrisseau: Life and Artwith the Art Canada Institute (Toronto, 2016) and Mythologizing Norval Morrisseau: Art and the Colonial Narrative in the Canadian Media (University of Manitoba Press, 2016). In addition to essays in edited collections and such scholarly journals as American Indian Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Art History, Media History, RACAR and Third Text, Robertson also co-wrote with Mark C. Anderson the award-winning Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canada’s Newspapers (University of Manitoba Press, 2011). An independent curator, she is currently curating an exhibition of new work by Dana Claxton at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.
About the Shannon Lectures 2017:
This year’s lecture series looks at Expo 67 as the highlight of Canada’s centennial. A world’s fair held in Montreal, it dazzled with its daring architecture, innovative exhibits and high-minded theme, “Man and His World.” Many regarded it as Canada’s coming-out party, a moment when the young nation burst into the international limelight. Substitute “Quebec” or “Indigenous Peoples” for “Canada” in the previous sentence and it would be equally true—Expo 67 was a rich spectacle that generated diverse messages. In Canada’s 150th anniversary year, Carleton’s Department of History is revisiting Expo 67 to reflect upon the meaning of it all. This public lecture series is made possible by the Shannon Fund, an endowment created by an anonymous friend of the Department of History.
Media Contact
Steven Reid
Media Relations Officer
Carleton University
Steven_Reid3 [at] Carleton.ca
