Call for Proposals: Indigenous and Black and People of Colour relationality and accountability within Indigenous territories

Deadline: March 6, 2023 at 11:59pm EST

We (Relationships, Reciprocity, Exchange Collective) are inviting student artists to submit proposals for an upcoming exhibition series related to the ongoing research project, “relationships, reciprocity, exchange: Indigenous and Black and People of Colour relationality and accountability within Indigenous territories”. This project is based at OCAD University, by way of Dr. Suzanne Morrissette, Dr. Alia Weston, and Shalaka Jadhav, and at York University, by way of Lisa Myers.

In spring 2023, we will be selecting 4 submissions from student artists. At the core of the project, we are interested in both the methodology of working and growing together, as well as how the chosen artworks may think through what it means to live ethically within and in critical dialogue with Indigenous people and their territories.

How do colonial histories shape the present, and how does this impact individual and collective Indigenous and Black and People of Colour, and their relationships to anti-colonial, decolonial, and non-colonial praxis?

This callout is produced by the research team of Dr. Suzanne Morrissette, Dr. Alia Weston, and Shalaka Jadhav. As a research and curatorial team, we come to the work of artistic production with humility. We honour space for artistic and non-artistic collaborators, and we want to build towards an ethic of shared commitment, of accountability to people and communities, when handling, caring for, supporting, and co-/creating knowledge.

Preparing to Submit

We’d like to share some questions to consider while forming your application:

Where do you come from? What has been gained, lost, shifted in your relationship to place?
What legacies and public memories support or resist against building a shared commitment of accountability?
How may we work together in building a culture of collaborative survivance and resilience?

Please submit the following materials in a single PDF document using this Google Form with file name:

Artist Name_RREProposalSubmission

approx. 250 words describing the proposed artwork;
approx. 250 words answering 1 of the 3 questions listed above;
approx. 250 words describing how you see your work align with the description of the project, highlighting areas of your practice that you see strengthened by your participation in the exhibit;
Up to 10 images of past work; and
A brief biography (approx. 250 words) and your contact information.

Please note that the max. file size is 10MB. We ask that artists ensure their files are properly formatted, with working links and file share permissions for downloads. We may not reach out for corrections if submissions are technically inaccessible due to submission volumes.

Proposed Timeline

February 17, 2023: Applications open
March 6, 2023: Call for Proposals closes at 11:59pm EST
March/April: Artists meet one another with the research team in a roundtable conversation
Summer 2023: Exhibition & Programming

This is a paid opportunity. We are looking to support 4 student artists with mentorship and in developing their practice. A total of 4 students will be chosen, with an artists fee of $500 per artist and material fee of $500 per artist. If your work needs to be shipped, a budget of $200 for two-way shipping will be provided. Final works will be exhibited physically in Toronto as a group show, and digital documentation will be archived on the forthcoming project website.

This Call for Proposals is only for student artists in Canada due to funding restrictions.

Contact:

If you would like to submit an application but require alternative accommodations, or have additional questions, please contact us before applications close:

Shalaka Jadhav, Research Assistant
sjadhav@ocadu.ca