Curator in Residence-grunt gallery

Tania Willard Appointed  grunt gallery Resident Curator

The grunt gallery welcomes Tania Willard as resident curator August 2009 – August 2010. This residency is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Assistance to Aboriginal Curators for Residencies in Visual Arts program. During her residency Willard will be working on several projects. Initially she will focus on completing the exhibition and dissemination of Beat Nation and the editing of brunt issue 5. In the coming year she will be coordinating an exhibition of the work of Nicholas Galanin and developing an exhibition of emerging Northern Artists. One theme running through these projects is the transformation and resurgence of cultural knowledge and values through new forms and media whether it be hip hop, film and video or web based media.. These projects will involve travel based research investigating the contexts in which the next generation of emerging and young Inuit and Northern artists live and work.

Inuit Breakdancing and Graffiti Art

Seems hip hop has no boundaries, Inuit youth have embraced hip hop and infused it with Inuit identity creating a hybrid brand of B boys and B girls, the KAIVA crew bring to new latitudes and longitudes break/hip hop culture Nunavut Iqaluit Aakuluk. Along with some great graffiti art projects like the mural above created in 2006 with the Alianait Arts Festival. The Festival borrows it’s name from the  Inuit expression of joy and celebration . This year’s lineup includes ArtCirq’s unique brand of Inuit Circus performance. Land of Midnight sun; it stands to reason it would conjure some brilliant talent and expression-of course there is Isuma TV a portal for indigenous filmmakers with unique Indigenous language content available 24/7. Also check out the experimental sounds of DJ Mad Eskimo Geronimo Intuiq. I am almost convinced to move there..at least in the summer!

Beat Nation: Hip Hop as Indigenous Culture

 

Check out Beat Nation online

Check Out Beat Nation at grunt gallery June 26th, Stay Late at VIVO for the Hip Hop Show featuring Native hip hop greats Os12 and more TBA.

Aboriginal artists have taken hip hop influences and indigenized them to fit aboriginal experiences, the roots of hip hop are there but they have been ghost-danced by young native artists who use hip hop cultures artistic forms and combine them with aboriginal story, experience and aesthetics. Conscious hip hop, hip hop with a message, hip hop as activism has been a driving force in looking at the influence of hip hop on Indigenous artists. From MC’s to graff writers, video makers, painters and poets Aboriginal rights and rythms have inspired a new fusion of hip hop and diverse Indigenous cultures. Beat Nation, a project of grunt gallery curated by Tania Willard and Skeena Reece, will be an exploration of hip hop as an indigenized culture for young emerging Aboriginal artists, launching as a web gallery in mid April and opening as an exhibition as part of BC Scene at SAW gallery in Ottawa, stay tuned for beats near you.