Rebecca Belmore, one of Canada’s leading performance and installation artists, will visit UBC Okanagan from March 17 to 21 to share her expertise and experiences with art students.
An Indigenous performance and multimedia artist currently based in Vancouver, Belmore has been selected for the first-ever UBC Okanagan Distinguished Indigenous Artist in Residence Program, which will see her spend a week at UBC in Vancouver, followed by a one-week residency at UBC Okanagan.
Belmore will present her work in an artist talk open to the public on March 18, at 7 p.m. in the Student Service Centre lecture theatre, says Stephen Foster, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at UBC Okanagan and the Okanagan lead for the program.
“Rebecca will also present her work to the Theatre and Performance class, as well as visit with Master of Fine Arts students and fourth-year Creative Studies students,” he notes.
“Having contact with an internationally known artist — and one of Canada’s top artists — is important for art and performance students,” says Foster. “Even if you’re not doing performance work yourself, she is someone who is known and has been there and operating at the highest levels of contemporary Canadian art.”
During her Okanagan stay, Belmore will visit the En’owkin Centre, which is the Okanagan Nation’s Indigenous cultural, educational and creative arts institution in Penticton and the key partner in the development of the undergraduate program in Indigenous Studies at UBC Okanagan.
Born in Upsala, Ontario, Belmore attended the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto and is internationally recognized for her performance and installation art. Since 1987, her multi-disciplinary work has addressed history, place and identity through the media of sculpture, installation, video and performance.
Belmore was Canada’s official representative at the 2005 Venice Biennale — the world’s oldest and most prestigious venue for the international display of contemporary art.
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