#CALLRESPONSE X grunt gallery, vancouver

October 29 - December 10, 2016

Artists: Christi Belcourt, IV Castellanos, Marcia Crosby, Maria Hupfield, Ursula Johnson, Cheryl L'Hirondelle, Isaac Murdoch, Esther Neff, Tanya Tagaq, Tania Willard and Laakkuluk Williamson-Bathory with local respondents Jennifer Kreisberg and Laura Ortman

Organized by: Tarah Hogue, Maria Hupfield, and Tania Willard

CALL
To support the work of Indigenous women from across Turtle Island through art commissions that drive dialogue and mobilize action on the topic of reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. To stand together across sovereign territories as accomplices [1] in awakened solidarity with all our relations, both human and non.

RESPONSE
To ground art in accountability, value lived experience, and build upon systems of support. To enact strategies of resurgence, resilience, and refusal against ongoing multiple articulations of power and the structural colonial violence of nation states.

[1] We take up the term “accomplices” as a politicized alternative to “ally,” following Jaskiran Dhillon’s “On Becoming an Accomplice.” Paper presented at Accomplice & Art Practice—Indigenous Feminist Activism & Performance, Yale University, New Haven CT, March 2016. 

Shining a light on work that is both urgent and long-term, #callresponse acts as a connective support system that begins with commissioned artworks created by Indigenous North American women artists and their invited guest respondents. Moving between specificity of Indigenous nations, site, online space, and the gallery, #callresponse focuses on forms of performance, process, and translation that incite dialogue and catalyze action across borders between individuals, communities, territories and institutions. The hashtag #callresponse connects the geographically diverse sites and provides opportunities for networked exchanges. A touring exhibition, #callresponse opened in Vancouver’s grunt gallery in 2016 and continues to engage each location with specific programming.

A dedicated project website callresponseart.ca includes artist statements, documentation, contributions from guest respondents, and integrated social media, including a series of interviews with the lead artists and their respondents on the Broken Boxes Podcast.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

EVENTS
Feet On the Ground with IV Castellanos, Maria Hupfield and Esther Neff
Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Ke’tapekiaq Ma’qimikew: The Land Sings with Ursula Johnson, Charlene Aleck and Cease Wyss
Community park behind grunt gallery

Timiga Nunalu, Sikulu (My Body, The Land and The Ice) with Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and Tanya Tagaq
Native Education College

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
#callresponse is produced in partnership with grunt gallery and generously supported by the {Re}conciliation initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundationand The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Additional funding support from the British Columbia Arts Council.

Presentation partners include BUSH Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, FADO Performance Art Centre, Kamloops Art Gallery, OFFTA live art festival, the National Arts Centre, and the Native Education College.