In this tour, learn how collaborations with Indigenous communities of British Columbia are central to MOA’s ways of working. The curators will discuss MOA’s ongoing relations and engagement with First Nations communities, artists and rights-holders to develop co-curated exhibitions, school teaching kits, knowledge exchanges, and to bring belongings home for ceremony.

They will explore past collaborations such as the MOA exhibition Shake Up: Preserving What Is Value that lead to a Kwakwaka’wakw Ninini (Earthquake) mask being danced for the first time in 60 years at a potlatch in Alert Bay. Other collaborations include the award-winning school teaching kits “xʷməθkʷəy̓əm: qʷi:l̕qʷəl̕ ʔə kʷθə snəw̓eyəɬ ct Musqueam: giving information about our teachings,” and “My Ancestors Are Still Dancing” with Tsimshian weaver William White.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, capacity is very limited and registration/tickets are required in advance. Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

SOLD OUT: Thursday, May 11, 7 pm

SOLD OUT: Saturday, May 13, 11 am

MOA Unmasked Tours are offered twice a month: Thursday tours at 7 pm and Saturday tours at 11 am. See the rest of the tour schedule.

Museum collections are embedded in colonial histories. A concrete example of this is the ongoing demand for repatriation to the Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria) of religious, artistic and mundane artefacts looted by British mercenaries in 1897, and sold to museums all over the world. In this behind the scene tour we will focus on MOA’s actions and scientific investigations regarding the collection from Benin, and explore the recognition of history wrongs as a tool for decolonizing the collections and move towards building an ethics of truth telling and reconciliation in museum practice.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, capacity is very limited and registration/tickets are required in advance. Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

Thursday, April 13 – SOLD OUT

Saturday, April 15 – SOLD OUT

MOA Unmasked Tours are offered twice a month: Thursday tours at 7 pm and Saturday tours at 11 am. See the rest of the tour schedule.

March 11 marks the 12th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the theme of MOA’s 2021 exhibition, A Future for Memory, and with the ongoing seismic construction at MOA, these tours will focus on the importance of earthquake mitigation and preserving cultural heritage. The tours will offer a unique opportunity to learn why seismic upgrades are underway at MOA, and the role of art in the aftermath of disasters.

There will be presentations by MOA Curator Fuyubi Nakamura and MOA Conservator Mauray Toutloff followed by a demonstration in the conservation lab and tours through the galleries.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

Due to the behind-the-scenes nature of these tours, registration/tickets are required in advance (ticket links below). Tickets will not be available at the door. Latecomers cannot be accommodated.

Thursday, March 9, 7 pm

Saturday, March 11, 11 am

MOA Unmasked: Behind-the-Scenes Tours are offered twice a month: select Thursday at 7 pm and  select Saturday at 11 am. See the full monthly tour schedule.

Participants will receive comic book pages that they can mend with tissue paper and non-toxic methyl cellulose paste, or practice dry cleaning like MOA Conservators. We will also look at ideas for the preservation of your comic book collection at home. Afterwards enjoy a self-guided tour of works within the Multiversity Galleries that relate to the day’s conservation theme.

Mark your calendars for the last Sunday of each month for MOA’s family program series—Culture Club at MOA— which focuses on active, participatory learning about diverse cultural perspectives and ways of knowing. This monthly family program features an experiential learning opportunity with storytelling, arts-based activities, and self-guided tours specially designed for young visitors.

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

Bio

Mauray Katherine Toutloff is an objects conservator at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. She has a M.A.C. from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and a B.Sc. from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. She has studied art at the First Nations University of Canada also in Saskatchewan. Mauray is focused on collaborative research for preventative and treatment-oriented conservation strategies. She lectures on conservation for the Department of Anthropology and teaches the laboratory component of the department’s conservation courses. Mauray is also a long-time comic book collector and has a passion for their colourful visual storytelling. She has been running the Kids Conservation Lab program at MOA since 2015, and enjoys providing hands on learning activities for families.

Culture Club is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning.

Inspired by the legacy of Xicanx artists and MOA’s feature exhibition, Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio, Diana More will facilitate a three-hour creative workshop that allows participants to delve deep into their own creativity through writing and collaging.

Diana More will guide a group discussion and a creative writing exercise about embodying hybrid identities in multiple cultures, inspired by The Third Space and the work of Gloria Anzaldua. Workshop participants will also make “frontera/boundary boxes” to explore the boundaries between outward expression and internal identity. Boxes are decorated with collaged images and texts.

Materials are provided but participants are also encouraged to bring meaningful images or text to decorate their frontera/boundary box.

Bio

Diana More (she/they) is a Xicanx artist, curator and creative participatory workshop facilitator. Born in Tenochtitlan (CDMX), her family moved to the unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples (Vancouver) when she was 5. Starting a life-long exploration into what it means to be Xicana/x; using photography, printmaking, filmmaking, creative writing in English and Spanglish and community.

Join us an enjoy a world party vibe for all ages. Mazacote is a hard-hitting world/Latin band with deep roots in the music of Nicaragua, Mozambique and Colombia. Inspired by Afro-Caribbean percussion and tropical party sounds, they play brass-heavy Latin dance beats with a message. Their new politically-charged album PATRIA draws upon themes of identity, immigration and resistance, reflecting on the plight of those escaping violence and corruption in Latin America and around the world.

Sound House is MOA’s music series, now in its fourth season, featuring a fantastic and eclectic lineup of Vancouver bands and artists—from spoken word to hip hop to soul. Sound House is a celebration of culture and music, set in MOA’s Haida House, against a stunning backdrop of Northwest Coast art and architecture.

Gather around the toasty bonfire outside with friends and drinks, and let the scent of cedar inhabit your senses. Sound House delivers rhythmic delights on the last Thursday of every month.

Doors | 7 pm
Performance | 7:15 pm

Bios

Juno-nominated Mazacote is a hard-hitting world/latin band with deep roots in the music of Nicaragua, Mozambique and Colombia. Inspired by Afro-Caribbean percussion and tropical party sounds, they play brass-heavy Latin dance beats with a message. Their new politically-charged album PATRIA, on Justin Time/Nettwerk Music, draws upon themes of identity, immigration and resistance, reflecting on the plight of those escaping violence and corruption in Latin America and around the world. Mazacote performs across the globe at music festivals and concerts, bringing their world party vibes to audiences of all ages!

This new artist talk series features artists from Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio speaking about their works. The roundtable dialogues will be moderated by exhibition co-curators Jill Baird and Greta de León. Xicanx Speaks! is an opportunity to learn more from these artists who are confronting the critical issues of our time such as racism, diversity, and identity.

The November 19 edition of Xicanx Speaks! will feature Julio César Morales, Celeste de Luna and Luis Valderas.

Join us for the full series of Xicanx Speaks!:
September 24: Judith F. Baca, Sarah Castillo + Kathy Vargas
October 15: Celia Álvarez Muñozs, Linda Vallejo + Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez
October 22: Delilah Montoya, Oree Original + Alfred J. Quiroz
November 12: Alejandro Diaz, Carlos Frésquez + Ana Lilia Salinas
November 19: Julio César Morales, Celeste de Luna + Luis Valderas

This is a hybrid event that will take place in-person (drop-in) and online (registration required, link below).

Bios

Julio César Morales is based in his studio based in Chandler, Arizona. Julio César Morales investigates issues of migration, underground economies, and labour on personal and global scales. His practice explores diverse mediums specific to each project or body of work. In his ongoing series Undocumented Interventions, Morales highlights the harrowing conditions migrants endure for clandestine passage into the United States. Rendered in hand-drawn lines and water colour, these works reference the “interventions” employed by migrants while highlighting their ingenuity, determination, and dedication—qualities the United States purports to seek.

Celeste de Luna is an artist/printmaker who grew up in the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Her work seeks to articulate and document personal and collective experiences in the material, spiritual, and supernatural world. Rooted in a Chicana feminist perspective, she aims to tease out the intricacies of living in and along the borderlands in her art, envisioning a fantastical, futuristic frontera. De Luna is self taught in printmaking, using the techniques to create artworks that include large-scale woodcut prints and fabric installation. She is a cofounder of the socially engaged art collective Las Imaginistas.

Luis Valderas received a BFA in Art Education from the University of Texas–Pan American in 1995. In 2005 he co-founded and produced Project: MASA I, II, and III—a national group exhibit featuring Latino artists and focusing on Chicano identities. He also co-founded A3— Agents of Change LLC, a large-scale-printmaking, community engagement collaborative. By large-scale, Valderas truly means large, sometimes printing with a steam roller. He has also been collaborating with artist Kim Bishop for over 10 years on public art and art-education projects for youth. Many of these involve innovative printmaking: for example, printing with a tortilla press. Currently, Valderas is a mentor and board member for the New York Foundation for the Arts.

THIS EVENT WAS FUNDED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE. THE OPINIONS, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS STATED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE ORGANIZERS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

Deepen your exhibition experience of Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio, in these special tours that focus on sharing perspectives about Xicanx history, social and political issues and identity.

Xicanx (May 12, 2022 – January 1, 2023) features many contemporary works by over thirty artists of Mexican American heritage–self-identified as Xicanx. These works combine traditions with contemporary experiences and realities to create powerful critiques that help build our understanding of the issues of race, migration, and identity that impact the Xicanx community.

These 30-minute exhibition tours will give visitors the opportunity to engage with the themes and ideas of the exhibition, including complex identities, activism and the concept of borders.

Capacity of 15 people per tour; first come, first served.

Schedule:
Third Thursday of each month | 7 pm

Thursday, May 19: with Raul Gatica, co-founder of Dignidad Migrante Society (please note: this month’s tour is at 3 pm, not 7 pm)

Thursday, June 16: with Diamond Olivia Olsson Delgado, musician, poet, storyteller and actor + Angelic Goldsky, creative director and founder of the Transgender Expressions Haven

Thursday, July 21: with Miret Rodriguez, vice president and chair of the programming committee for the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre.

Thursday, August 18: with Juanita Sundberg, Associate Professor of Geography at UBC specializing in nature conservation, border security, and militarization.

Thursday, September 15: with Jon Beasley-Murray, Associate Head of Hispanic Studies; Associate Professor of Spanish at UBC.

Thursday, October 20: with Alessandra Santos, chair of Latin American Studies Program, and faculty associate of Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBC.

Thursday, November 17: with Manuel Piña, Associate Professor at UBC’s Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory and Faculty Associate at the UBC Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice.

Bios

Raul Gatica is the co-founder of Dignidad Migrante Society, a temporary foreign farm worker organization, as well as editor of the cultural magazine El Cencerro. He describes himself as a Mixtec of bad reputation, subversive with a patched heart, and (sometimes) poet from San Miguelito, Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico. He is a survivor of torture and has been in political exile in Canada since 2005. He has authored books of poetry Assaulting the Word and Broken Man/Hombre Roto, as well as books of stories Shoes on the Rocks and Borrowed Characters.

Diamond Olivia Olsson Delgado is a musician, poet, storyteller and actor. She/her is Mexican First Nations and Caucasian. Dabbing in raw forms of art exploring queer identity, racism and healing. Collecting inspiration from everyday life. She is nothing but honest.

Miret Rodriguez is vice president and chair of the programming committee for the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre. She is also the creative director and co-founder of Curated Tastes, an art mediation company that organizes engaging tours and art appreciation classes for Vancouverites. Miret was born and spent her childhood years in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City and her teenage years in the suburbs. At 18 she moved to Vancouver to study at UBC, navigating through dislocation and disorientation. For over a year, Miret has been interviewing Latinx artists in Canada about their immigration stories and their ways of expressing their experiences through art.

Juanita Sundberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, UBC. She brings the insights of feminist political ecology and the sensibilities of an ethnographer to bear on nature conservation, border security, and militarization. Her work seeks to foster conversations between feminist geopolitics, critical race theory, posthumanism, political ecology, and Latin American Studies. Her current project examines the environmental dimensions of United States’ border security policies in the United States-Mexico borderlands, with a specific focus on protected areas like national wildlife refuges.

Jon Beasley-Murray is an Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Posthegemony: Political Theory and Latin America. He has published extensively on social and political theory, as well as on Latin American literature, culture, and history.

Angelic Goldsky [t(he?)y] is a poet and a queer community arts lover. They are the poet-in-residence at the Roundhouse Community Art Centre, and love facilitating and finding ancient words which rebel against form, and birth new timelines. They are the Creative Director and Founder of the Transgender Expressions Haven, an organization devoted to celebrating transgender creative genius through interactive, media and multi-dimensional art.

Alessandra Santos is associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Film, and currently serves as chair of Latin American Studies at UBC. Her research area is Latin American cinema, performance, literature and culture. Her main areas of interest are utopias, technology, gender, and social justice, and her work examines how art functions as social practice. Among her publications are a book on Mexican cult film The Holy Mountain, and two co-edited interdisciplinary volumes on utopias in the Americas.

Manuel Piña is an artist, pedagog, and social and spiritual activist. He is Associate Professor at UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory and Faculty Associate at the UBC Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice.

This new artist talk series features artists from Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio speaking about their works. The roundtable dialogues will be moderated by exhibition co-curators Jill Baird and Greta de León. Xicanx Speaks! is an opportunity to learn more from these artists who are confronting the critical issues of our time such as racism, diversity, and identity.

The November 12 edition of Xicanx Speaks! will feature Alejandro Diaz, Carlos Frésquez and Ana Lilia Salinas.

Join us for the full series of Xicanx Speaks!:
September 24: Judith F. Baca, Sarah Castillo + Kathy Vargas
October 15: Celia Álvarez Muñozs, Linda Vallejo + Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez
October 22: Delilah Montoya, Oree Original + Alfred J. Quiroz
November 12: Alejandro Diaz, Carlos Frésquez + Ana Lilia Salinas
November 19: Julio César Morales, Celeste de Luna + Luis Valderas

This is a hybrid event that will take place in-person (drop-in) and online (registration required, link below).

Bios

Alejandro Diaz: Based in New York City since 1996, Alejandro Diaz is originally from San Antonio, where he developed an exciting and pertinent body of work exemplifying the complex and visually rich cultural milieu particular to South Texas and Mexico. Diaz’s conceptual, campy, and political cardboard signs—which he began making and selling on the streets of Manhattan in the late 1990s—are emblematic of his humour-infused politics and his involvement with art as a form of entertainment, activism, and public intervention. His ongoing series of cardboard signs continues to evolve, with some sayings now produced in neon.

Carlos Frésquez is inspired by cartoons, comic books and psychedelic posters. As a painter he loves bold colours. He uses his sense of humour to focus attention to critical issues and to poke fun. He was born in Denver, where he still resides. He received a B.A. from Metropolitan State University of Denver (1980) and an MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder (1995). Frésquez has lectured widely about Chicano art history and his own artwork and has exhibited his drawings, sculptures, prints, installations, and paintings in at least 30 U.S. states and ten different countries.

Ana Lilia Salinas was born in Alice, a small south Texas town. She received a BFA in 1986 and obtained a Master of Science in Bilingual Education in 1992 from Texas A & M University-Kingsville. Upon completing her education, she moved to Austin, Texas. Presently Salinas is a Dual Language Kindergarten teacher. Salinas’s artwork has been selected to be part of the Latino Art Collection and the Chicano print collection at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It has also been on the cover of blu, a Yale drama series written by Virginia Grise (2011), and featured in Tongues magazine. Her recent exhibitions include the 2020 Latino Art Exhibit in San Jose, California at the contemporary arts space MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana), and in a mural project at Chicano Park in Austin.

THIS EVENT WAS FUNDED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE. THE OPINIONS, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS STATED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE ORGANIZERS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

Once you have arrived at the altar, created by local Mexican Canadian artist Paloma Morales, you are encouraged to contribute photos and mementos of your loved ones.

Día de los Muertos is believed to reunite the living and the dead through ofrendas (offerings on colourful altars) that are prepared a few days before the holiday. This is when it is believed that the dead return to visit their friends and relatives. Altars are decorated with bright flowers, photos, and the favourite foods of those being honoured. Because of its importance as a defining aspect of Mexican culture it is recognized by UNESCO as a part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2008.

The Day of the Dead altar at MOA is open for self-guided visits from November 1–3. On November 2 and 3 (10:30 am – 12 pm), Paloma Morales, the artist who created the altar, will be present in the Haida House to discuss her work and share this important cultural holiday with visitors.

Paloma Morales was born in Mexico and at the age of 25 she moved to study in London, England, then lived in Sydney Australia where she was Vice-President of MAWAI (Mexican Australian Association INC). Now living in Vancouver, Paloma is the Community Manager with Latincouver. Paloma has been making public altars as a way to share her Mexican traditions and culture.

This event is hosted in partnership with Latincouver, as a part the Latin American Heritage Month Festival. 

For the Fourth consecutive year, Latincouver will celebrate Latin American Heritage Month in BC, by bringing a series of interactive events that include a combination of artists’ performances, art exhibitions, online webinars, forums, and events to commemorate the rich and fascinating Latin American heritage and its influence in BC and Canada.