Broken Boxes Podcast is proud to present this episode as the seventh installation in a series of interviews featuring artists and their respondents from the socially engaged project #callresponse.

In this episode artist and curator Tania Willard speaks about her curatorial practice and breaks down the themes and materials she is focusing on in her current artistic work. She reflects on living and working on her Reserve and how she navigates being a mother and a practicing artist simultaneously. Tania also tells us about her involvement in #callresponse, providing insight into the body of work she is creating for the project and introduces us to the work and ideas of her respondent, Marcia Crosby.

Only Available Light, (series) birch bark, cedar root and copper foil, laser cut text, 2016. Tania Willard — *Only Available Light*, (series) birch bark, cedar root and copper foil, laser cut text, 2016. Tania Willard

"Interconnectedness is the root system of my work as an artist. Land based art, community engaged practice, printmaking, painting are the mediums I most often work in, these ways of working are tied to me, I am tied to my ancestors, we are tied to the land." -Tania Willard

Here is the conversation with Tania Willard:

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Music featured on this episode by Beatrice Deer, YAMANTAKA, Dead Prez

More about the Artist:

Tania Willard. Image credit: Kyla Bailey — Tania Willard. Image credit: Kyla Bailey

Tania Willard, Secwepemc Nation, works within the shifting ideas of contemporary and traditional as it relates to cultural arts and production .Often working with bodies of knowledge and skills that are conceptually linked to her interest in intersections between Aboriginal and other cultures. Willard has worked as a curator in residence with grunt gallery and Kamloops Art Gallery. Willard’ curatorial work includes Beat Nation: Art Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture, a national touring exhibition first presented at Vancouver Art Gallery in 2011. Recently Willard curated CUSTOM MADE at Kamloops Art Gallery and was selected as one of 5 National curators for a National scope exhibition in collaboration with Partners in Art and National Parks. Her upcoming project co-curated by Karen Duffek will be a solo show, Unceded Territories: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun at the Museum of Anthropology. Willard’s personal curatorial projects include BUSH gallery, a conceptual space for land based art and action led by Indigenous artists.

Only Available Light,(still) selenite, digital video, 2016. Tania Willard — *Only Available Light*,(still) selenite, digital video, 2016. Tania Willard

#callresponse project details:

Strategically centering Indigenous women as vital presences across multiple platforms, #callresponse is a multifaceted project which includes a website, social media platform, touring exhibition and catalogue. The project brings together five local art commissions by Indigenous women artists from across Canada, including Christi Belcourt, Maria Hupfield, Ursula Johnson, Tania Willard and Laakkuluk Williamson-Bathory. Each artist has invited a guest to respond to their work, including Isaac Murdoch, IV Castellanos and Esther Neff, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Marcia Crosby and Tanya Tagaq.

#callresponse is co-organized by Tarah Hogue, Maria Hupfield and Tania Willard, and produced in partnership with grunt gallery and generously supported by the {Re}conciliation initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Additional presentation partners include BUSH Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, FADO Performance Art Centre, Kamloops Art Gallery, OFFTA live art festival, the National Arts Centre, and the Native Education College.