Interview with Lori Beavis, Executive Director of Centre d’art daphne

Conducted by Olivia White

I spoke with Lori Beavis about the origins and goals of Centre d’art daphne, 
Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal’s first Indigenously determined contemporary artist-run centre. The Centre is named in honour of renowned Odawa-Potawatomi artist Daphne Odjig. The physical space will be opening in January 2021.

Lori discussed the Thanksgiving Address in relation to daphne’s intentions to build community relations by gathering over food. Lori also provided a written statement regarding daphne’s mandate:

Mission Statement

Centre d’art daphne is a non-profit Indigenous artist-run centre committed to serving the needs of emerging, mid-career, and established Indigenous artists through exhibitions and associated programming, workshops, residencies and curatorial initiatives. daphne encourages a culture of peace through critical, respectful exchange with our Indigenous and non-Indigenous peers and audiences. 

Summary of Mandate

Centre d’art daphne is an Indigenous led artist-run centre. We are committed to be a strong component of Montreal’s Indigenous visual arts community. We will be active in the community and support Indigenous groups and initiatives. We will welcome and work with strong allies
 
The primary purpose of daphne is to curate exhibitions of visual artwork by First Nation, Inuit and Métis artists at all stages of their career. daphne will focus on, though not exclusively, Québec-based artists as these artists are often left out of national and international conversations on art and art practices. Centre d’art daphne will also act as a gathering place for community members to come together for regularly scheduled events. These events will be workshops for artmaking and bead working, artist talks, film screenings and readings. We will also have feasts throughout the year to mark the changing of the seasons or the solstice, Indigenous People’s Day, and for days of remembrance such as the Annual Women’s Memorial Walk. 
 
Our mandate as a gallery will be to support artists at all levels of their career. We will create contracts and commit to paying artists and curators fees based on the current year’s CARFAC Fee Schedule. Accordingly, we will pay an honorarium to people giving addresses or prayers at openings; artist talks; and for commissioned writing. It is daphne’s intention to, in time, create curatorial and technician internships so that the next generation of Indigenous cultural workers learn skills and gain the experience to work as professionals in the visual arts.
 
Part of daphne’s mandate is also to curate lengthy solo exhibitions for the following reasons:  

• prioritizing 10-12 week solo exhibitions build artists’ practices and careers 
• the work can be viewed and contextualized and thus create stronger connections to the work
• lengthier exhibitions open a space for more contemplative public and critical responses
• solo exhibitions affirm and support both the artist and their work as a milestone that empowers individual First Nation, Inuit and Métis artists as they create work that coalesces with their narrative
• such exhibitions resist the weight of the commercial gallery and museum’s mandates that too often centralizes the European gaze.

In addition, daphne has recognized how few Indigenous artists, queer artists, and artists of color have a solo exhibition opportunity. Even in 2020, exhibitions with a single artist are much likelier to be devoted to white Euro-American male artists, despite the fact that racialized people are 28 percent of the population. An analysis of major public art galleries by Canadian Art (2015) found that only 11 percent of solo exhibitions were given to non-white artists. At this juncture we need to recognize that the dominant Euro-centric cultural canon, and existing power and class structures are still actively in place. daphne will work constructively to curate and exhibit work by Indigenous artists. daphne’s mandate is to build relationships and community. We will work to increase the visibility and understanding of contemporary Indigenous art within Québec as we also work to increase the visibility of Québec-based Indigenous artists within and outside of the province.