(Re)presenting masculinities

Friday, October 25, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.
Room 2M70 (2nd floor of Manitoba Hall), The University of Winnipeg

Gallery 1C03 at The University of Winnipeg presented the panel discussion “(Re)presenting masculinities” in conjunction with its exhibition Boys Club. This event offered an opportunity for speakers Dr. Bruno Cornellier, Bill Kirby and Kegan McFadden to respond to various “chapters” within the exhibition and/or offer alternative means of exploring the representation of masculinities in historical and contemporary art practices. Abstracts and speaker biographies follow.

NEW: Listen to the presentations by clicking on the links below!

“Boys’ Club: Representing Gender and Resistance in the Canadian Settler Colony" by Dr. Bruno Cornellier

Dr. Bruno Cornellier interrogates some of the critical intersections between notions of settlement, colonialism, and gender in the making of settler nation-states such as Canada. He will explore ways in which a specific gendering of indigenous masculinity has been instrumental to the production and representation of activist or resistant subjectivities by both settler and Indigenous artists in Canada.

Bruno Cornellier is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Winnipeg, where he teaches courses in cultural studies. His book on cinema and the politics of Indigenous representation in Canada and Québec is forthcoming (Montreal: Nota Bene, Winter 2014). His articles appear in Settler Colonial Studies, the Canadian Journal of Film Studies, the London Journal of Canadian Studies, and Nouvelles Vues.

"The 'Four Horsemen' and the Screen Shop" by Bill Kirby

Bill Kirby will look into two collegial groups of male artists represented in the Boys Club exhibition who played a significant role in defining the art scene in Winnipeg in the 1960s and 1970s, and who continued to influence the scene into the 2000's. The 'Four Horsemen' were Tony Tascona, Bruce Head, Winston Leathers, and Don Reichert.  Artists connected with the Screen Shop include Bill Lobchuk, Don Proch, Ted Howorth, and Kelly Clark.

Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art and creator the Canadian Art Database Project, Bill Kirby is the former Head of the Canada Council Art Bank and was a Visual Arts Officer responsible for the Council’s Program of Assistance to Art Galleries and Artist-Run Spaces. He is a former Director of the Edmonton Art Gallery, Professor of Contemporary Canadian Art and Director of Gallery 1.1.1. at the School of Art of the University of Manitoba, and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

“Some Men in My Life: a working history in alternative pedagogy: by Kegan McFadden

Kegan McFadden will present an artist talk dealing with the role masculinities and patrilineal culture have played in his recent projects, such as Kelly & Terry & Kegan (Gallery 803, 2010); With Alec in Mind (Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, et al, 2012), and Fifty-six four-letter names of men I met between 1981 and 2008, remembered in chronological sequence (approximately) (Malaspina Printmakers Gallery, 2012 and Martha Street Studio, 2013).

Kegan McFadden has developed a hybridized practice as an artist, curator, and writer over the last ten years. His research deals primarily with notions of melancholy and personal histories, and has taken the form of exhibition, publication, and print multiples. Kegan’s work in alternative approaches to the archive has been exhibited nationally, including recent exhibitions in St. John’s, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.

Question and answer with audience followed the presentations.

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