Join artist-run centre articule for the second edition of Montréal Monochrome, a discussion around ethnic diversity in the arts. Montreal is among the most ethnically diverse cities in Canada, but the city’s diversity is not reflected within many institutions working in the visual arts field. Within museums’ management and exhibited artists, arts foundations, artist-run centres as well as within private galleries, people of colour are underrepresented.

Building upon the conversation started by last year’s speakers and given the recent political context, this year’s discussion will look at the notion of values. What kinds of values do artists of colour produce and how? What strategies have they built as part of their struggle against racism and colonialism? How can other organizations and individuals contribute to those efforts?

Moderated by artist Kama La Mackerel, the discussion will feature presentations by local artists Zab Maboungou, Melissa Mollen Dupuis, Valérie d. Walker and Mary Sui Yee Wong.

Presentations will take place in English and French and will be followed by an open discussion. Whispered translation will be available upon request. The M.A.I. is wheelchair accessible.

This event is copresented by the M.A.I. and the following artist-run centres: Eastern Bloc, La Centrale, OBORO, Skol and Studio XX.

Welcome to all!

Kama La Mackerel is a Montreal-based performance artist whose work is guided by the themes of feminism, queerness, alienation, displacement and cultural untranslatability. Co-founder of Qouleur (formerly 2-qtpocmontreal), an annual art festival celebrating the lives and art of Indigenous and racialized queer communities in Montreal, and founder of GENDER B(L)ENDER, Montreal's unique monthly queer open stage, Kama La Mackerel has one aim in life: to decolonize and create visibility for Indigenous and queer artists of color.

Zab Maboungou, founder of the renowned Zab Maboungou/Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata, a performing and choreographic artist, philosophy professor and author of the book Heya ! Poétique, historique et didactique de la danse africaine, has distinguished herself on all artistic and cultural action fronts. Her movement technique, lokéto, is innovative and has won the favour of those who want to perfect their understanding of contemporary and African dance. She has always shown a strong commitment to create living art, in the noblest sense of the term, an art that has succeeded in embodying human beings and their times, beyond histories and communities.

Melissa Mollen Dupuis is Innu of Ekuanitshit on the North Shore. She comes from two cultures: Innu and Québecois. For several years, she has been uncovering her double belonging, the conflicts between, and the interbreeding of, those cultures. Through visual arts, animation, video, performance and story telling, she explores contemporary avenues of interpretation of Aboriginal culture. An actress in several Aboriginal television series, she is also active in the Aboriginal cultural and community sector through her involvement with the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network, Wapikoni Mobile, as well as Idle No More QC.

Valérie d. Walker is a force of nature, alchemist, transmedia artist, educator, curator, and part-time faculty in the School of Fine Arts at Concordia University, where she also researches tactile gaming interfaces at TAG/Hexagram. Radio producer & on-air host of The XX Files, V contributes as technical advisor to artists and artist-run centres in Montréal and internationally. Her research based artwork incorporates craft based techniques, environmentally beneficial processes, tactility, electronic circuits, solar power and memory-based story-building. V has a BSc EECS from UC-Berkeley and MFA from Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She regularly offers workshops at Espace Fibre in Montréal.

Mary Sui Yee Wong is a Montreal based multidisciplinary artist of Chinese descent. Her work draws from the familial, cultural, and historical to explore space and place as constructs. Wong has exhibited extensively in and outside of Canada, including Germany, Korea, and the USA. In 2010, Wong presented an online multi-media performance in collaboration with her father, Master musician Tao Wong, titled Sing Juk Sing, presented by Accès Asie, OBORO gallery and Center A. Wong currently teaches in Fibres Area of the Studio Arts Department at Concordia University, and the Undergrad Program in Individualized Studies at Goddard College, Vermont, USA.