Jesse Birch is a curator in Nanaimo, a city located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. Located on the periphery of the city, a two-hour ferry ride away from the metropolis of Vancouver, this place has been home to the Snuneymuxw First Nation for over 5,000 years prior to European colonization. We will ask about the meaning of collaborating with artists and planning exhibitions in such a unique local community and context, and what kind of art community and ecosystem has existed there.

As a curator, I am deeply committed to context responsive work, which involves engaging with forgotten or underrecognized sites and histories, empowering those whose stories are often not heard, and celebrating diverse forms of expression. With this in mind I develop thematic exhibitions, and support artists to produce new works that are relevant to unique environments, while facilitating accessible entry points for local communities. 

Since 2014 I have been curating in relation to my home town of Nanaimo, a small city of 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, on the territory of the Snuneymuxw people. In comparison to major urban centers like Vancouver, which is a two hour ferry trip away, Nanaimo is a peripheral space, and yet it has rich cultures, histories, and communities of artists, and it is relevant both to the region and far beyond. Working in collaboration with the team at Nanaimo Art Gallery I celebrate and amplify these contexts and communities. Like many artists from Osaka, Kyoto, and the Kansai region, in Nanaimo we see the specificity of the place we live and work as a strength. 

This context responsive approach to place began with a trilogy of projects relating to the resource industries that the city was built on. Black Diamond Dust (2014), Silva/The Mill (2015/16) and Landfall and Departure (2017/18) were expansive on and off-site projects that set Nanaimo in international dialogue through contemporary art. Black Diamond Dust and The Mill, have been published in book form and are distributed internationally through a collaboration between Nanaimo Art Gallery and Sternberg Press, Berlin.

In recent years Nanaimo Art Gallery has facilitated series of exhibitions developed around year-long questions directed towards artists and local communities. Inquiries have included: What does it mean to live on an island?, What are generations?, What is progress? and What stories do we tell? Our upcoming question: How can we work together? will focus on collective work and creative communities. During my talk I will discuss some of the recent projects developed at Nanaimo Art Gallery, highlighting the practices of artists who celebrate the local in their work. 

Engaging in productive dialogue and feedback with artists has long been an important part of my practice as a curator, educator, and writer. I know direct connections with artists and curators from outside one’s region are valuable. I am looking forward to sharing with artists and creative communities in the Kansai region and learning about their unique contexts and practices. 

Jesse Birch