IN CONVERSATION: Raven Davis with Glodeane Brown

The University of Waterloo Art Gallery, CAFKA and the Department of Fine Arts are pleased to present artist Raven Davis in conversation with writer Glodeane Brown.

Raven Davis's photographs on display at the UWaterloo Art Gallery

Raven Davis’ Mmenwenmad | To Save for Later is a series of monochromatic images of the artist on the coastline of Mi’kma’ki, also known as the Atlantic coast. Through the juxtaposition of land, body and Skyworld, Davis grapples with a common 2-drawer filing cabinet, illustrating the lateral violence and incapability of colonial systems of knowledge to archive or embody the continuum of one's lived experience, intimate relationships with the land, and land based ways of knowing. The images are juxtaposed by a pair of the same weather-beaten filing cabinets mounted on top of exaggeratedly tall plinths placing the cabinets out of reach. Glodeane Brown joins Davis in conversation about their practice and its critical engagement with monuments, colonialism, trauma, disability, transness, diaspora, and relationship to the land.

Please join us for an informative and engaging conversation between artist and writer, moderated by Ivan Jurakic. ASL interpretation and automated transcripts to be provided.

Mmenwenmad | To Save for Later is on display until March 26. For more info visit the UWAG website

Raven Davis is an Anishinaabe, 2-Spirit, transgender, disabled multidisciplinary artist, activist, and educator, whose mother is from Treaty Four in Manitoba. Davis was born and raised in Michi Saagig Territory/Toronto, Ontario, and resides and works fluidly between Toronto and Kjipuktuk/Halifax. A parent of three sons, Davis works within the mediums of painting, performance, and media. Challenging systemic oppression, Davis fuses narratives of colonization, race, gender, disability, transformative justice, and 2-Spirit/Indigiqueer identity in their work. Davis’ performance and art practice bravely embodies their lived experience, reclaiming histories of Indigenous peoples’ restoring cultural knowledge, and honouring land, water and collective kinship futures.

Glodeane Brown (she/her) is an arts management professional, an arts and culture blogger, and a public art coordinator. She was previously the General Manager at CAFKA – Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area. In 2021 she started working at The Town of Halton Hills as the Town’s first Public Art Coordinator. She has worked with several arts organizations to provide services ranging from jurying to facilitating panels. She is a Director at Arts Awards Waterloo Region, and a Guest Curator at Mind’s Eye Studio Art Gallery where she has curated solo and group shows featuring local artists. In 2020 she received an arts award from Arts Awards Waterloo Region for her contribution to the local arts community.

Ivan Jurakic is Director/Curator of the University of Waterloo Art Gallery.

This project is extension of the CAFKA.21 biennial, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost. CAFKA would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.