USask galleries announce Capacitor project artists

The Capacitor project, a new University of Saskatchewan (USask) programming channel for transgender, non-binary, Two Spirit and gender nonconforming artists in Saskatchewan, has announced its cohort of selected artists.

Four artists will receive a $2,000/month stipend for six months along with other supports aimed at growing their practice. The selected artists are acâhkos calf child-dubois (Treaty 4/Regina), Cyril Chen (Treaty 4/Regina), Opal Hoggarth (Treaty 4/Regina) and Yuji Lee (Treaty 4/Regina).

“These four artists are a great choice for the Capacitor project because they’re all at stages in their respective careers where they need a bit of a boost,” said Jaye Kovach, the Capacitor project’s Art Auntie. “We—myself and the Capacitor Advisory Council—felt that these artists were uniquely positioned to benefit from the project while also showcasing a diversity of artistic practices and experiences representative of Two Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming art in the province.”

Biographies of the selected artists can be read on the Capacitor project webpage.

The Capacitor project is hosted by the USask Art Galleries and Collections. Funded through a $100,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Now Program, it is intended to produce the space and capacity necessary for a community that has disproportionately experienced violence, misrepresentation and exclusion within the province and its art spaces.

The selected artists will have the opportunity to showcase their art on the USask Art Galleries and Collections website, but are under no obligation to produce or show work.

“As a pilot project that was created in response to serious need for change in how we as an institution hold space, practice our privilege, and create the conditions for learning and unlearning, I look forward with great humility to what we will come to know over these next few months of the Capacitor project,” said jake moore, director of the USask Art Galleries and Collection and a faculty member in the College of Arts and Science’s Department of Art and Art History.

The Capacitor project has already helped build capacity at USask and led to new partnerships, moore said.

“The Remai Modern, PAVED Arts, the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative have all contributed access and memberships and I am working directly with the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance to discuss other methods of removing barriers and increasing safety for Two Spirit, trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming artists.”

In the near future, the USask Art Galleries and Collection hopes to obtain financial support to extend the Capacitor project beyond its one-year pilot phase.

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