In Plain Sight: Conversation and Catalogue Launch

Henry Tsang 

Friday, August 23, 2024

7 – 9 PM PT Door open at 6:30 PM

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Surrey Art Gallery, Centre A, and Powell Street Festival are pleased to celebrate the catalogue launch of Henry Tsang: In Plain Sight with a conversation between Henry Tsang, Judy Hanazawa, and Dan Tokawa at Centre A on Wednesday, August 24 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Admission is free.

The conversation will focus on history, memory, built environment, and landscape through artist Henry Tsang’s photographic work. Judy Hanazawa and Dan Tokawa will discuss the recent initiatives of their organization Hastings Park Commemoration and Education Project. Henry Tsang: In Plain Sight is an exhibition catalogue that brings together two of Henry Tsang’s solo exhibitions, Hastings Park (2021) and Tansy Point (2022), both shown at Surrey Art Gallery. Hastings Park consisted of a series of colour photographs depicting the four remaining buildings in Vancouver where over 8000 Japanese Canadians were temporarily located and processed prior to being sent off to labour and internment camps during World War II. Tansy Point was a video installation of a photographic panorama centred on the peninsula of the same name, located near the mouth of the Columbia River. This is where the Anson Dart Treaties were signed in 1851 between the Indigenous Chinook peoples and the US government. The catalogue contains essays by Bryce Kanbara, Tarah Hogue, and Jordan Strom. It is designed by Vancouver-based designer Alex Hass.

The catalogue launches with Hastings Park, an exhibition organized as part of the 48th annual Powell Street Festival and in partnership with Centre A. The exhibit is on view until August 17.

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Speaker Bios: 

Henry Tsang

Henry Tsang is an artist and occasional curator based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. His projects explore the spatial politics of history, language, community, food,
and cultural translation in relationship to place. These take the form of gallery exhibitions, pop-up street food offerings, 360 video walking tours, curated dinners, ephemeral and permanent public art, employing video, photography, language, interactive media, food, and convivial events. Projects include 360 Riot Walk, a 360-degree video walking tour of
the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver, Canada, and Welcome to the Land of Light, a public artwork along Vancouver’s seawall that underscores the 19th century trade Henry Tsang: In Plain Sight catalogue launch and conversation language Chinook Jargon and the English that replaced it. Tsang teaches at Emily Carr University of Art & Design.

Website: henrytsang.ca

Judy Hanazawa

Judy Hanazawa was born in 1947 in Merritt, BC where her family moved after their incarceration to the Bridge River self-supporting site. Her family were fishing people from Steveston but after the internment years, she grew up in Strathcona in the Downtown Eastside. Upon receiving her redress payment, she earned a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of British Columbia. Following her MSW practicum in the Squamish Nation, Hanazawa embarked on a lifelong relationship with the Squamish People,
becoming a program developer, service provider, trainer, and policy writer for Squamish Nation Ayas Men Men Child and Family Services. Over the last 30 years, she assumed executive positions in the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association (GVJCCA) and in the National Association of Japanese Canadians as chair of their Human Rights Committee. Her community development activity included being part of a group which in 2010, initiated development of the Japanese Canadian Hastings Park Interpretive Centre Society. Hanazawa is the Director of Hastings Park Commemoration and Education Project.

Daniel T. Tokawa

Daniel T. Tokawa was born in Ontario in 1948. Because of the unlawful expulsion of Canadians of Japanese ancestry from British Columbia, Tokawa returned to East Vancouver in 1952 with his family. Tokawa is the author of Vancouver Rashomon: Redress Stories. He has been the President of Hastings Park Commemoration and Education Project since 2021.

 

Split Ends 

Date: August 16, 2024 

Time: 6 – 8 PM 

Location: Centre A

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Join us for an intimate evening of readings by participants in our 2024 Art Writing Mentorship Program on August 16. Using place, body, and memory, they will share works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and performance that think through uncertainty and moments of transition. 

Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

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Reader Bio:

Oceania Chee is a student and a creative currently living, practicing, and making in “Vancouver”, on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory. Their moon is in Scorpio and they wear a C-cup bra, so the future bodes well for them. 

Sena Cleave works in sculpture, language, and photographic experiments to address ideas of il/legibility and hybridity, as well as exchange and reciprocity. Recent exhibitions include 560 Gallery, Seymour Art Gallery, Mónica Reyes Gallery, and Massy Arts Society. Cleave’s writing has been published in the Contemporary Art Gallery’s Timelines and The Only Animal Theatre’s Slow Practice. 

Lauren Han is an interdisciplinary artist born on Treaty 7 territory in Mohkinstsis/Calgary. Their practice is wide-ranging but mostly orbits around performance. They love both mess and precision.

Malivia Khondaker is an artist and writer located on unlawfully occupied Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh territory. Malivia aspires to one day find god in all the little things. 

Parumveer Walia (b. Chandigarh, India) is an artist and writer working in photography and expanded media examining the turmoil and tenderness of being the Other. Walia is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design with a minor in Curatorial Studies.

 

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Image: courtesy of Parumveer Walia and Malivia Khondaker

This program is generously supported by the Sector Innovation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Regional Cultural Project Grant from Metro Vancouver and SFU’s David Lam Center.

 

Notability: Contemporary Canadian South Asian cultural histories and notations

Friday, August 9, 2024

2 – 3 PM PT

Online (Zoom)

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RSVP HERE.

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Join us on Friday, August 9 for Zool Suleman’s virtual talk, Notability: Contemporary Canadian South Asian cultural histories and notations. Part of Centre A’s 2024 Art Writing Mentorship, this event is open and free for all. 

This talk will trace Rungh’s recent journey with creating IBPOC Wikipedia entries and how Canadian IBPOC cultural histories struggle to be legible and noteworthy. 

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The 2024 Art Writing Mentorship is generously supported by the Sector Innovation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Regional Cultural Project Grant from Metro Vancouver and SFU’s  David Lam Center.

 

Preambling the art workers’ inquiry

Friday, July 19, 2024

2 – 3:30 PM PT

Online (Zoom)

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RSVP HERE.

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Join us on Friday, July 19 for Steff Hui Ci Ling’s virtual workshop, Preambling the art workers’ inquiry. Part of Centre A’s 2024 Art Writing Mentorship, this event is open and free for all. 

This workshop will discuss, celebrate, and critique various designs of art workers’ inquiries circulated between 2015-2021. It will address some political economic conditions of labour in the artist-run and non-profit arts job market, offer a theoretical framework to organize against dominant actors and exploitative practices using the inquiry, and invite participants to draft their own.

The 2024 Art Writing Mentorship is generously supported by the Sector Innovation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Regional Cultural Project Grant from Metro Vancouver and SFU’s David Lam Center.

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The 2024 Art Writing Mentorship is generously supported by the Sector Innovation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Regional Cultural Project Grant from Metro Vancouver and SFU’s  David Lam Center.

 

Open Studio

Saturday, June 22, 2024

12 – 4 PM PT

Centre A

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No RSVP required.

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Centre A is delighted to invite everyone to an open studio by our current residents of the SLOW Relations + Practices Emerging BIPOC Artist Residency: Phoebe Bei, Kaila Bhullar and Rawan Hassan.

This month, the cohort is utilizing our gallery space to cultivate their proposed projects, and will be sharing about their practices with the public through the open studio. All are welcome.

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This program is funded by the BC Multiculturalism & Anti-Racism Grant.

Archive and Utopia: Art and Literary Criticism for a Better World

Friday, July 5, 2024

2 – 3:30 PM PT

Online (Zoom)

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RSVP HERE.

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Join us on Friday, July 5 for Larissa Lai’s virtual talk, Archive and Utopia: Art and Literary Criticism for a Better World. Part of Centre A’s 2024 Art Writing Mentorship, this event is open and free for all. 

In this talk, Larissa will discuss her own critical practice, with a focus on research and her relationship to the archive, but also the reasons for why she writes criticism–what she thinks it might produce for a better Asian Canadian future. What are some of the better and worse ways of approaching an artwork? How can a critic enter into productive conversation with someone else’s practice and production? How can criticism draw from existing cultural memory and what contributions can it make towards the meaningful evolution of Asian Canadian arts communities?

The 2024 Art Writing Mentorship is generously supported by the Sector Innovation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Regional Cultural Project Grant from Metro Vancouver and SFU’s  David Lam Center.

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The 2024 Art Writing Mentorship is generously supported by the Sector Innovation Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Regional Cultural Project Grant from Metro Vancouver and SFU’s  David Lam Center.

 

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

Centre A invites self-identifying emerging Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Artists based in Metro Vancouver to apply for our Open Call for SLOW Relations + Practices, an eight-week program from June 1 to July 27, 2024, including a four-week paid studio and research residency, followed by a four-week exhibition at our gallery space of new works created during the residency.

SLOW Relations + Practices is part of Centre A’s 25th Anniversary programming that examines the organization’s rich history as the only public gallery in Canada that focuses on Asian and Asian diasporic perspectives. The program is a new and revised iteration of Makiko Hara’s project of the same name at Centre A in 2010. For the early iteration of the project, led by Hara and initiated by a working group of diverse, local cultural producers, it addresses the pressing issue of time-slow and hurriedness.

During the one-month residency period, three chosen artists will be able to utilize Centre A’s gallery space as a shared studio, participate in group critiques, create collective works, share knowledge with the 2024 Art Writing Mentorship participants, and engage with the public through a series of open studios. Centre A will also facilitate and connect artists with arts and culture workers within the Vancouver area. 

Participants will have access to their shared studio space at Centre A from Wednesdays to Saturdays, 12 – 6pm, as well as our Reading Room and a list of digital media equipment, including projectors, monitors, media players, mixer, speakers, and more. The studio space has gallery lighting fixtures and no natural light. We do not provide accommodation.

At the start of the program, we will work with each participant regarding their accessibility needs, and provide support needed for successful applicants to eliminate any barrier to participate in the program, such as audio transcription and ASL interpretation.

 

PARTICIPANT ELIGIBILITY:

The program is open to emerging BIPOC artists residing in Metro Vancouver. We encourage all members of underrepresented and marginalized groups to apply, including but not limited to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, and/or disability.

An emerging artist is defined as an artist who works in any discipline within the visual and performing arts, who are in the early stages of their professional career, and are committed to the development of their craft and practice.

The applicant must be able to commit to the entirety of the program’s duration (8 weeks, including the month-long exhibition following the residency). This includes planned weekly events such as group sessions, public open studios, gallery visits and other programming:

• Friday, June 7: gallery visits with Art Writing Mentorship cohort 
• Friday, June 14: Chinatown studio visits with Art Writing Mentorship cohort
• Saturday, June 15: residency artist open studio day
• Saturday, June 22: gallery visits
• Wednesday, June 26 – Friday, June 28: group exhibition installation
• Monday, July 29 – Wednesday, July 31: group exhibition deinstallation

 

BENEFITS:

• Hands-on experience working with BIPOC artist peers
• Daytime access to a shared studio space at Centre A located in Vancouver’s Chinatown, within walking distance of numerous galleries and arts organizations
• Networking opportunities with established local artists, curators and arts and culture workers
• Opportunity to work with Centre A’s Artistic Director and Programming team to realize a month-long group exhibition at Centre A
• Curatorial, administration and marketing support, including event assets such as social media promotion, postcards and exhibition photos
• An artist fee of $1000 and material reimbursement of $250 for each artist upon successful completion of the program, and standard CARFAC fee for the group exhibition ($1190/artist) and any additional public programming

 

PROGRAM DETAILS:

Location: Centre A, 205-268 Keefer St., Vancouver, BC. See more accessibility details below in the “About Centre A” section

Duration: 8 weeks, June 1 – July 27, 2024

Commitment: Participants are expected to attend weekly programming (approx. 3-5 hours each week), and utilize the studio space on a weekly basis during the residency period

Remuneration: Upon successful completion of the program, each participant will receive an artist fee of $1000, a material reimbursement of $250 and an exhibition fee of $1190 per CARFAC schedule.

 

HOW TO APPLY:

Deadline to submit: May 13, 11:59 PM PST

During a time of urgent global and ecological catastrophes, the SLOW Relations + Practices residency welcomes applications from emerging BIPOC artists based in Metro Vancouver in response to the following questions: 

• What is the renewed condition of artistic practices and production? 
• How do we incorporate slowness as a methodology of care in the current condition? 
• How can slowness create time and space for meaningful interactions and collaborative learning? 

Please submit the documents below in a single PDF file by email to [email protected] with “Residency Application” in the subject line. Please make sure your PDF file is under 10MB.

Your application should include: 

• A project proposal (500 words maximum) outlining what you intend to create during the residency in relation to your background and artistic interests;
• A curriculum vitae (3 pages maximum);
• Contact details for one reference;
• Any access needs;
• 5-10 images or videos of past work (videos should be included as URL links, please ensure the link is publicly accessible) ;
• An image list corresponding to the images, including title, year, material, size, any collaborators, and a brief description of the work (100 words max. each).

A total of three applicants will be chosen for the program. Successful applicants can expect to hear back by May 20, 2024. Due to the large volume of applications, we are unable to provide individual feedback at this time. 

 

ABOUT CENTRE A:

Established in 1999, Centre A is the only public art gallery in Canada dedicated to contemporary Asian and Asian diasporic perspectives. We are committed to providing a platform for engaging diverse communities through public access to the arts, creating mentorship opportunities for emerging artists and arts professionals, and stimulating critical dialogue through provocative exhibitions and innovative public programs that complicate understandings of migrant experiences and diasporic communities. In addition to our exhibition space, we house a reading room with a collection of books on transnational Asian art, including the Finlayson Collection of Rare Asian Art Books.

Centre A is located in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown, on the second floor of the Sun Wah Centre Mall. The gallery is located on the second floor of a wheelchair-accessible building which has an elevator. Bathrooms are gendered with accessible stalls. Please contact us at [email protected] if there are any questions.

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This program is funded by the BC Multiculturalism & Anti-Racism Grant.