Curatorial: For Whom Masculinities Matter

Featuring Lacie Burning and Léuli Eshraghi with asinnajaq and Dayna Danger. Curated by Adrienne Huard and Lindsay Nixon for gijiit.

Never Apart, 7049 St Urbain St, Montreal, QC, H2S 3H4.

Opening: Thursday, July 11, 2019, 6 – 10 pm.

Recent books in the field of Native Studies have expressed concern about cultures of toxic masculinism naturalized among Indigenous men, arguing certain forms of masculinity can be colonial institutions that Indigenous men must be freed from. But Indigenous masculinity projects also risk perpetuating performative narratives about cisgender, straight men reclaiming positive forms of warrior culture, at times erasing the labour Indigenous women and queer and trans Indigenous peoples have undertaken for centuries supporting Indigenous men, and regardless of the ethicacy of those men’s relationships to the women and femmes in their lives. Further, the primarily cis- and hetero-normative frame of Indigenous masculinity studies, theory, and art can make an uneasy footing for gender-fluid, and even traditional forms, of masculinities. And still, the criminalization of Indigenous men and boys persists. “For Whom Masculinities Matter” asks, what has gone unsaid about Indigenous masculinities? What can Indigenous knowledge about intentional tenderness and fluid gender teach us about consciousness-raised, anti-colonial masculinities?

gijiit is a curatorial collective based in Montreal and Toronto, concentrated on community-engaged Indigenous art addressing gender, sex, and sexualities.

PROGRAM: Join the participating artists and curators for a SPA DAY WITH THE BOIS on Saturday, July 13, 2019 from 12 pm to 2 pm. Light brunch will be provided for a moderated discussion circle about traditional, non-Western genders as a way of ~decolonizing~ toxic masculinities. Following brunch, we will take a dip in the pool.