Guest Lecture: Lisa Myers, York University

The Department of Art History Guest Lecture Series is pleased to present:

Lisa Myers, Assistant Professor, York University

"Aesthetics of Evidence in the artwork of Mike MacDonald"

Early documentaries by the late Mike MacDonald reveal the liveliness of histories, of telling and retelling and uncovering, yet also assert evidence of Indigenous protest and legal challenges. This talk argues that MacDonald's early documentary work informs his video installations presenting evidentiary value within his work. In foregrounding these processes this presentation will consider how documents and documentation—and the values they encode—are differentially rendered legible and legitimate. Both are means to carry forward experiences, histories, and knowledge.

All welcome! Light refreshments will be provided.

Lisa Myers has a Master of Fine Arts in Criticism and Curatorial practice from OCAD University. She is a member of Chimnissing, Beausoleil First Nation and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. She is an internationally recognized artist and curator with a research focus on Contemporary Indigenous art and curatorial practice with a keen interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. Her recent curatorial projects include four touring exhibitions. International recognition of her work includes invitations to participate in exchanges. The Canada Council of the Arts in 2016 invited Lisa to participate in a Tri-Nation International Exchange with Indigenous curators from Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Canada. This exchange will continue with the 2019/2020 launch of the anthology Becoming our Future: Global Indigenous Curatorial Practice. Her writing has been published in exhibition publications, art publications and peer-reviewed anthologies and journals including Reading the Talk, C Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, Senses and Society, and Public. Myers’ interdisciplinary collaborations through her diverse art practice includes printmaking, animation and participatory community-engaged projects. Through socially engaged art, she creates gatherings that respond to place. Her projects often include sharing berries and other foods indigenous to the Great Lakes region, in this way she shares and reflects on underrepresented histories and knowledge exchange.