SPIRITED
A research presentation by Ryan Rice

in collaboration with ARTEXTE

(http://www.artexte.ca)

 

23/04/08

reception at 5:30pm

presentation at 6pm (sharp!)

at articule

Ryan Rice, an independent curator from Kahnawake, will present SPIRITED, the outcome of his curatorial research residency at ARTEXTE where he explored the concept of Two-Spirited-ness, an amended term associated with the Aboriginal queer community, in relation to the Aboriginal visual arts community. The notion of Two-Spirits, traditionally identified people who embody both masculinity and femininity, has recently become commonly accepted within the Aboriginal LGBT communities of North America as a social service vehicle, however, Aboriginal artists have yet to embrace or reject this label fully. This fascinating subject has multiple ramifications for questions of nation, community, duality, security, identity, pigeonholing and sovereignty, as well as gender and sexual politics.
Ryan Rice, a Mohawk of Kahnawake, Quebec is an independent curator. Rice received a Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York, graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and received an Associate of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has worked for the past 12 years within the museum/art gallery milieu as an educator, intern, curator (assistant, guest, resident, independent, fellow and Chief) at the Iroquois Indian Museum, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Indian Art Centre (INAC), Carleton University Art Gallery and the Walter Phillips Gallery.

In 2008, Rice will tour his group exhibitions ANTHEM: Perspectives on Home and Native Land and Oh So Iroquois, and will be presenting new exhibitions in Kingston, Ontario, Lethbridge, Alberta, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. He was the fourth participant in Artexte Information Centre's Research Residency Programme and is the co-founder and chair of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective (www.aboriginalcuratorialcollective.org).

 

Image: Ryan Rice, Indigenous Kiss, 1992 Serigraph