The goal of the Redefining Canadian Art History Fellowship Program at the Art Canada Institute (ACI) is to revisit and redefine the framework of art history in Canada through studies on Canadian, Indigenous, and diaspora artists whose lives and works are underrepresented.
ABOUT OUR FELLOWSHIPS
The Redefining Canadian Art History Fellowship is intended to contribute to a fundamental re-working of the narrative of Canadian art history by incentivizing major research projects on the full range of visual culture across the country in all its rich diversity. The Fellowship was established in 2021 because the history of art in Canada that is exhibited in museums and taught in schools and universities has followed a colonial narrative, rarely recognizing critical contributions that have been made by artists who are women, Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, Diaspora, 2SLGBTQQIA+, Nonbinary, Gender Non-conforming, Deaf, and Living with Disabilities.
Each year ACI awards five individuals with fellowships of $30,000 for one year to study an archival or museum collection or body of work that is related to an artist overlooked due to gender, racial, or cultural background; projects normally focus on a single artist, though they may also explore artists who worked together as part of a collective or together within a community practice. Areas of research specialty may include, but are not limited to, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit art; African Canadian art; Asian Canadian art; art by racialized Canadian artists; and Canadian art and gender and sexual diversity. Recipients will participate in a mentorship program that consists of one-to-one sessions as well as group meetings to explore issues of research, writing, and current debates and critical issues; in addition to having a designated mentor, Fellows will have the opportunity to connect with leaders in their chosen field through the program. Fellows will prepare their research for presentation at a national symposium and in a bilingual publication organized by the ACI, to be distributed in an online format.
In May 2022, ACI awarded the first five Fellowships in this program. To read more about the Fellows and their projects, visit this page.
Banner images: [1] Edward Mitchell Bannister, Newspaper Boy, 1869, oil on canvas, 76.6 x 63.7 cm, Collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Gift of Jack Hafif and Frederick Weingeroff (1983.95.85). [2] P. Mansaram, Image India #53, 1994, ink on paper, Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, © ROM. [3] Lady Henrietta Hamilton, Portrait of Demasduit (Mary March), 1819, watercolour on ivory miniature, Collection of Library and Archives Canada. [4] Germaine Arnaktauyok, Tattoo Lady, 1999, etching, 36.8 x 27.9 cm, various collections.