Colour Theory, an anti-racism art exhibit

Main Gallery_ - 1.jpeg — **Anti-Racism Through Art**

Colour Theory is an anti-racism program and art exhibit facilitated by Angelique Bulosan, featuring Jade Anais, Dahlilah Charlie, Kristy Crawford, Rowan Hynds, Robyn Jin, Cai Leting, Matilde Cervantes Navarrete, Laura Rechwan, Mara Szyp, and Macayla Yan. The exhibit themes included anti-racism, social justice, racial justice, Indigenous reconciliation, showcasing multiculturalism in the arts and highlighting the experiences of BIPOC artists in Canada.
**Colour Theory: An Anti-Racist Art Exhibit** is a visual arts exhibit developed out of a series of facilitated discussions that explore experiences around racism. Building from these discussions, visual art and storytelling pieces were shared with the general public to spark dialogue around racism.
Colour Theory is funded by the government of Canada and the CRD Arts Commission.

Eleven Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour (BIPOC) artists were chosen to gather virtually and actively practice anti-racism. These artists collaboratively created a safe space for conversations that informed their exhibit final works. The exhibit empowered the public to self-reflect on the topic of racism.

The facilitated discussions for the artists took place late Spring and Fall 2021, on the traditional Lək̓ʷəŋən and Coast Salish Territories, also known as Greater Victoria. The exhibit took take place in the Fall and was hosted by the Esquimalt Community Arts Hub. The exhibit travelled to the Massy Art Society gallery and the A. Wilfrid Johns gallery at the University of Victoria.

The exhibit will was accompanied by anti-racism, allyship-building workshops open to the public.

Program Rationale

The purpose of this art exhibit is to amplify the perspectives of artists of colour and provide an opportunity for community dialogue. This work is taking place in the context of the continued systemic discrimination of Indigenous peoples, rising instances of anti-Asian hate crimes, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Recent reports, such as Racism in Greater Victoria: A Community Report, have made it clear that more work needs to be done to
provide anti-racism tools to the general public.

This exhibit also deliberately creates space for BIPOC voices in the art industry where there are limited opportunities for BIPOC artists to display their work and participate in the professional arts economy. Articles like Canada’s Galleries Fall Short: The Not-So Great White North show us that the issues of racism, stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice are sadly alive and well in the arts and culture sector. We have spoken with many artists and continue to hear that BIPOC artists are discriminated against in Victoria and Vancouver-based cultural spaces.It is clear to us that more work needs to be done to address racism specifically in the visual arts and at all levels of organizations.

The goal of the Colour Theory exhibit is to empower the public to self-reflect on the topic of racism.
As a group of artists, we have been meeting and discussing anti-racism and are learning from one another.

Experience the Artist Stories

Each contributing artist to Colour Theory provided an original piece of writing on a topic of their choice. The stories are powerful & accompany the visual artwork.

Please take time to read and listen to the stories.

TRIGGER WARNING: Some stories deal with themes of racism, verbal abuse, violence and may be challenging for some visitors.