BLACK LIVES MATTER & THE DEATH OF MR. GEORGE FLOYD (IN ACADEMIA)

There were several people in Season Two who mentioned to me the weight they felt knowing that the professional opportunities they got, and the increased attention their work was getting, could be traced directly to the death of Mr. George Floyd. Others spoke to me about how they were involved in attending to the inadequate ways their educational institutions responded to the Black Lives Matter global movement after Mr. Floyd’s death. The Ruskin School of Art’s response to this movement has significantly impacted my PhD, particularly as I began my PhD in October 2020, and as we were mid-pandemic, the first time I met many of the Tutors was through the School’s attempts to grapple with (in my own words to Cecilia Wee on 30 December 2022), “… the fact that they put up like a, you know, a statement against racism, which was, like, deeply generic, um, and unacceptable.”[i]

Speaking about this with Wee, I asked about the article, “We need collectivity against structural and institutional racism in the cultural sector” which they co-wrote with Jade Montserrat, Michelle Williams Gamaker, and Tae Ateh and was published on Arts Professional on 24 June 2020. They told me,

I just remember... so myself and Jade, um, were involved in lots of conversations that dated back from, like, 2018/19, um, about all of the, I guess, lack of institutional accountability within the art sector around racism particularly. Um, and thinking about how we would articulate that. Um, and I think it felt like it was always really urgent for everyone who was involved. So, there was quite, quite a group of people who were sort of coming in and out of conversation and, you know how it is.

Um, but then there wasn't... you know, because we were all sort of like struggling in our own situations and facing like the everyday that we have to, um, it didn't really... there was no, there was never really the right time to kind of like address that. And then when the pandemic happened, and then also, like, all of the stuff around the black squares, um, it just like... Like, we were like, "We need to write this thing, whatever it is, we need to write this thing.”[ii]

I interjected, “Black squares. Instagram black squares? What are we talking about?”[iii] (I only have an Instagram account for This Thing We Call Art and only use it when I need to.) Wee clarified,

The Instagram black squares. It was like the Blackout Tuesday, wasn't it? I think it was, like, the Blackout Tuesday that all of that was everywhere. Like in- institutions were all, like, posting black squares after the murder of George Floyd, um, including loads and loads of arts organizations.

And we were just like "What on earth?” You know, "What on earth. Like you need to look at your own houses. You need to look at your own country. You need to look at, like, all of the stuff that's going on that, you know, so many of us have been talking about for such a long time, and that you've been denying.” And so that's how we kind of like came together to write this statement.

And, um, Jade and Michelle were, were in touch about this as well, and so we kind of like got together and over a series of like, really lovely actually, early morning chats [LAUGHS] and Google Docs. Then we wrote this, we wrote this statement and I know that there's a lot in it. But, and actually, you know, for us, we realized that we couldn't necessarily carry everything, but actually, hopefully we laid out a series of prompts for people to kind of think about, to act on and for us to also pick up later on down the line in the ways that we could.

So, I guess like, you know, for me, one of the strands of work I've been doing is around like, um, equity, diversity, inclusion practice, um, which is both fulfilling, but also, like, a terror. [LAUGHS] Um, and so yeah, doing that for various different organizations. I think it's really good that people are, like, finally investing in this work, but then we still see that there's so many issues in terms of, you know, even when you're doing this work, then you're still experiencing all of the problems that you're talking about in it. So, that is something that hasn't changed [LAUGHS] as I'm sure that you can, you know and understand and have heard from others…

… so, at R.C.A. (Royal College of Art), for example, then it was really important for [the Union], like when, um, when the R.C.A. put out a black square. Then we were like, "That's it. Okay. We have to launch an investigation into institutional racism at the R.C.A.” And that's what we've been doing since like 2020… Um, and so, you know, we went through this really long process, and I don't think we're, you know, we are not there yet by a long shot. There's so many things to do, but at least we've started to kind of like... You know, the first thing that we did was, um, we- the R.C.A., like just a few weeks after the black square, um, said that they were going to appoint, um, a white (as far as I understand) like, cis non-disabled person, like non-disabled man as the head of Equality and Diversity.

And we were like, "This is not happening.” And also, because we know that it's because he came from a similar role in another institution that did not have a good record of [LAUGHS] around E.D.I. (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) practices anyway. Um, then we said, you know, "We need to retract this. This recruitment needs to be retracted and the recruitment process needs to be open again so that someone with lived experience can, can, like, get into this role.”

And we've done, you know, we've went through all that process and we've done that, and now they also have a team member. And so, you know, there's all of these kind of like very, very slow processes that are happening, but at least, you know, every win that we, we get, um, and every kind of case that we make, um, is, is something. Yeah.[iv]

jina valentine spoke about being involved with Black faculty and alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago attempting to respond to issues presented by Black students. Like Wee, valentine speaks to how exhausting this work is, but also like Wee, valentine speaks to the importance of doing such work collectively which presents “really lovely” moments of sharing and venting and learning and solidarity. valentine told me,

…in 2020, in the midst of everything that was happening in the world, I got an email from another faculty member, and they were. It was an email to Black faculty, um, requesting a meeting to talk about ways to support all of the concerns and critique that had been lobbied at the administration by Black students. How do we support them? Um, and so it was myself, Martine Whitehead, SHAWNÉ MICHAELAIN HOLLOWAY, Andres Hernandez, and Leah Gipson who's in art therapy, and AJ McLennan. Um, and we met frequently to talk about what kind of letter we were going to write. So, we wrote a letter, which was the Black Futures Letter. I’m glad that happened, but I mean, our meetings were... [LAUGHS] were a lot of sharing space, primarily. And also, we made this thing happen. Um, but I think about that as an ethic, or as a way to build conversation consensus community, and also do the work, um, as it relates to Black Lunch Table. Um, that, the, you know, checking in and acknowledging the space that we're sharing and holding that space in advance of getting into whatever the work is, is as imp- or maybe more important than the work at hand.

  It was also about having a place to... I dunno, just to share updates, to share gossip, to share information about the administration, to, um, vent [LAUGHS] to be heard, right? Um, and to know that, that place was also for that, right, I just, I dunno, I feel like I learned a lot from watching how other people create space and how other people hold space, and um and invite...a kind of participation that ensures that everyone feels they can be heard and feels that there are no dumb questions.

  But yeah, I think, um, I'm also interested in how these spaces exist despite institutions, and for an institution to be held accountable or to be worth anything, it requires the existence of those spaces too. There has to be the collective of people that are somehow invested in the institution who continually hold the institution to account, right? And it's exhausting. [LAUGHS][v]

  I spoke with Dr. Joana Joachim on 7 September 2022, nine months into her post as an Assistant Professor of Black Studies in Art Education, Art History and Social Justice at Concordia University. Prior to this position she held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at McGill University from 2020 – 2021, where she finished her PhD in 2020. As a current PhD candidate, I wanted a breakdown of how exactly that happened so I could attempt to achieve such an incredible lineup of opportunities after I graduate. During her PhD, Dr. Joachim worked full-time at Artexte, “… a library, research centre and exhibition space for contemporary art”[vi] in Montreal but took leave in her final year. She said that while she,

…was on leave, I saw, uh, job posting for a postdoc at McGill, which really felt quite tailor made for me.

And so, I was like, I'm just gonna apply just to- for the experience of applying. I'll be able to get feedback after my rejection. [LAUGHS] That's not what happened, I got the postdoc and, which meant that I, in order to take on the postdoc, I had to not only leave my job permanently at Artexte, but also finish my writing a year quicker than expected.

At the same time, the pandemic hit, two weeks after I started my leave of absence. And so, it kind of felt like this storm of things was happening all at once. So, I kind of rolled out of my position at Artexte into a pandemic, finished my PhD, and then started my postdoc. And in the midst of all of that, Mr. Floyd got murdered, and all of a sudden in the Canadian context, everyone wanted a Black something somewhere.

And so, as a result of that, um, this position at Concordia... I see it as a direct correlation, I don't know if that's how it happened, that's how it felt. Um, the, the position at Concordia opened up within six months of me starting my postdoc, something like that. And being that at the time, there were only... less than a handful of Black art historians in the city. Myself, my advisor, and a few other students, grad students that I knew. I felt like I had a pretty good chance of getting the position. And, um, so that's how it happened. So that's why I say it feels like it was largely on accident because so much of it, feels like once in a lifetime, you know? Up until the start of the pandemic, I had no idea if I would even be able to work in Canada, let alone in this city.

Um, because the reality is, up until myself, there have been no positions specifically for Black art history in the country, and only one other Black art historian who successfully got hired by a Canadian university. And that's, that was my advisor. So, I had one example in. a 20-year slice of time. So, it feels all very serendipitous, accidental and... just, I, I, I can't think of a work to describe how surreal it feels.

But yeah, so this concoction of events probably will never repeat itself, but hopefully other possibilities open up for, for folks who are at the PhD level who are getting ready to kind of think about, perhaps, a full career in academia. So yeah... I feel really lucky.[vii]

In the Epilogue to her episode Dr. Joachim mentioned that,

…while there are few Black folks in art history departments *specifically* several people are teaching Black art in other departments like curatorial studies at Ontario College of Art & Design University as well as in studio arts, feminist and women's studies programs across the country. The struggle to carve out a lasting path for Black art in Canada continues. Case in point my PhD supervisor Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson, who was recently named Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, has since moved to a new position as a Provost Professor of Art History and the founding Director of the Slavery North Initiative at UMass Amherst and Gaëtane Verna has also left Canada to a position as Executive Director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, both in the U.S. I'd also like to mention that the National Gallery of Canada very recently laid off four senior staff members including Greg A. Hill, its curator of Indigenous art who opposed how the gallery was approaching the new decolonization agenda. So, while some headway is being made, several steps backwards are also being taken.[viii]

Mr. Floyd died on 25 May 2020, I spoke with Dr. Joachim on 7 September 2022, and she wrote this Epilogue on 29 November 2022. Dr. Joachim historically and geographically contextualized this wave of interest when, “…everyone wanted a Black something somewhere” when we spoke about Blackity, the exhibition Dr. Joachim’s curated at Artexte which was on view from September 2021 to June 2022 and is currently still available online. Blackity was/is, (in Dr. Joachim’s words),

…a presentation, meditation on, alongside, how Black Canadian art history is witnessed by the Artexte collection. So Artexte is a contemporary art library, which means that the collection holds only documentation about contemporary art, um, globally, mostly Canadian, mostly Quebecois because of, it's a physical collection, and so, you know, it reflects its community, um, more strongly than other parts of the world because books are heavy and can't be mailed necessarily as easily. And so, I kind of just went through the collection as far back as I could go. So that took me to about the seventies cause it's contemporary art, right. So that only goes back to about the 1960s. And so, I found stuff all the way back to the 1970s and I just started sort of putting it together. Um, and wanting to think through what Black Canadian art looks like, who are the people who are making what or curating what, when and with whom? Um, and just kind of, displaying it and really kind of thinking about what does that look like?

Um, and putting the question out there of how come it's so hard to pin down Black Canadian art history? Um, obviously white supremacy is the answer to that question, but, um, there are other factors as well. And so just kind of posing the question and, and, and, and sitting with it. And, again, basking in resisting, in that resistance to be pinned down and, and sort of accepting the flux.

And so that's, that, that's, that was the show of just kind of like, seeing what the collection had to offer and then reflecting on what it is that the collection could not offer and all the reasons why it did not offer those things.

Right, so the archival process is one that begins with the creation of the document in a lot of cases, right? And so, if there was a show that included a Black artist in the 1970s, but no one thought to create a document to record the fact that that show included a Black artist, then that can't be archived, right? If no one thought to save a copy of that document, then that can't be archived, right? If no one thought to actually put the document in the archive, then that's the end of the story. And so, kind of just... thinking about all the different stages that need to, that need to be passed in order for a catalogue, a poster, a postcard, a document of any kind, a book, to perdure, last, until this time.[ix]

One way the data was visualized in Blackity was through vertical bands where, as the exhibition website explains, “The upward motion of the disconnected stripes emphasize the fragmentary nature of this history echoing the trends around documenting Black Canadian art practices. Thinner bands represent a small number of documents during a certain time period in the collection whereas thicker ones represent an abundance of information.”[x] Dr. Joachim told me that you can see how these bands of increased interest correlate with historical moments like The Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1988) and the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement in the early 2010s. Which makes you wonder, how long will this current wave of interest and opportunity last?

Ruth Lie earned her M.A. in Curating at the R.C.A. in 2012, having been a part of the Inspire programme, “… a collaboration with the Arts Council England… [and] the Royal College of Art that [offered] black and minority ethnic curators the chance to study for a two-year full-time MA in Curating Contemporary Art while working in museums and galleries around the country.”[xi] This programme only lasted for two years with two cohorts of 10-12 students per intake. I asked Lie, “Having been a part of this Inspire programme 12 years ago and having been a part of a kind of change of guard at the V&A, um, have you seen the kind of art world that you've worked in since then be impacted in really crucial ways by, um, these kinds of targeted, like institutional change. Um, like, is anything... has some diversity actually, like, lasted?”[xii]

  To which Lie responded,

…I think that's an interesting question because, um, it lends itself to probably my, like, skepticism about institutions as a whole. But, but only because I, I feel like I've worked in a lot of institutions and have I myself become like institutionalized in that respect, right? Because, um, you accept certain ways of thinking. Um, I don't know if Inspire did that. I think there was a lot of problems with the programme, but then at the same time there's - my peers are now working, you know, predominantly within, um, the museum and gallery sector and, and have, like, lead roles, you know, lead roles in that. So that's essentially what they wanted to achieve, right? So, I get in, in that regard, that's been, that's been beneficial.

Um, but then I have real skepticism around, you know, the Black Lives Matter protests, which were happening in 2020 and, and museum and galleries responses to that. And it suddenly, um, being this very like, um, tokenistic, like, acknowledgement of what has been happening for centuries anyway. Like... and this need to, to diversify and this need to, um, to be very public about that. And yeah, I don't, I don't know how I feel because also what happens is a lot of people do stay in their jobs for a really long time too, right? Yeah, how truly inherently part of that culture can that become.[xiii]

 Kelly Lloyd

[i] Cecilia Wee, interview by Kelly Lloyd, This Thing We Call Art, 30 December 2022, https://www.thisthingwecallart.com/podcast/cecilia-wee.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] jina valentine, interview by Kelly Lloyd, This Thing We Call Art, 2 November 2022, https://www.thisthingwecallart.com/podcast/jina-valentine.

[vi] “About Us” Artexte, 29 April 2023, https://artexte.ca/en/about-us/.

[vii] Dr. Joana Joachim, interview by Kelly Lloyd, This Thing We Call Art, 7 September 2022, https://www.thisthingwecallart.com/podcast/dr-joana-joachim.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] “Blackity”, Artexte, Accessed on 10 May 2023, https://www.artexte.art/en/blackity.

[xi] RCA, “Inspire,” Royal College of Art, 24 February 2009, https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/inspire/.

[xii] Ruth Lie, interview by Kelly Lloyd, This Thing We Call Art, 3 December 2022, https://www.thisthingwecallart.com/podcast/ruth-lie.

[xiii] Ibid.