{"id":2991,"date":"2023-11-09T19:02:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T19:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=2991"},"modified":"2023-11-09T19:02:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T19:02:47","slug":"an-inside-look-at-the-vancouver-art-gallerys-anti-white-exhibit-funded-by-the-federal-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=2991","title":{"rendered":"An inside look at the Vancouver Art Gallery\u2019s anti-white exhibit funded by the Federal Government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An inside look at the Vancouver Art Gallery\u2019s anti-white exhibit funded by the Federal Government<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Lindsay Shepherd<\/a> – November 8, 2023 Facebook<\/a>Twitter<\/a>Pinterest<\/a>WhatsApp<\/a>Linkedin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A social media post about a hateful, anti-white exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery called \u201cConceptions of White\u201d recently went viral<\/a>, so naturally, I had to go see it for myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you fork over your $30 admission fee (geez) and take the stairs to the third floor, the first thing to catch your eye is the giant phrase on the wall that reads, \u201cWhen you\u2019re the problem, we\u2019re the solution.\u201d The text is accompanied by a large headshot of a white male.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gallery attendees then have the opportunity to interact with an AI program on a set of tablets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStop talking. Never share an uninvited opinion again,\u201d text on the wall reads. When you look into the tablet, a mute symbol is superimposed over your mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCheck privilege. Learn whether you\u2019re special or just lucky,\u201d the text reads. Upon looking into the tablet, a halo that says \u201cUndeserving\u201d appears over your head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGet curious. Vocalize your own ignorance.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tablet prompts me to say aloud, \u201cI know nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I sauntered over to the gallery security guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo people find this funny?\u201d I asked her, gesturing at the tablet display. After all, the artist behind the work had described it as \u201ctongue-in-cheek.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she said, with a sheepish smile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t like it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she shook her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked her whether this exhibit has been popular so far, but the answer was another negative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Emily Carr exhibit is popular though,\u201d she offered, referring to the famous Canadian painter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I walked by some schizophrenic ramblings and pictures on the wall about how because statues from Ancient Rome and Greece had curly hair, they were probably not white people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I arrived at a computer station with a webcam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAryan Recognition Tool: How Aryan Are You?\u201d the screen read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The computer program claimed to measure how your face compared to the facial measurements of \u201cthe most infamous leaders of the Third Reich.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign me up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCould face recognition be used to detect genocidal predators, or even casual racists? Find out whether your face matches any of the 1,900 examples of Aryans we\u2019ve gathered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was so eager to do so, but darn! An \u201cout of order\u201d sign was propped up in front of the facial recognition camera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next major installation was a timeline that spanned about 15 feet long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn incomplete timeline of the circumstances that influenced the emergence \u2013 and evolution \u2013 of White racial identity,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I learned that as a white Canadian born in the mid-1990s, my identity is defined by slavery, scientific racism, Rudyard Kipling\u2019s 1899 poem \u201cThe White Man\u2019s Burden,\u201d colonialism, the Ku Klux Klan, the Third Reich, the \u201calt-right,\u201d and Robin DiAngelo\u2019s book White Fragility: <\/em>Why It\u2019s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last items in the timeline of white terribleness were \u201c2013: Black Lives Matter founded\u201d and \u201c2021: January 6 Insurrection.\u201d I chortled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was exhausted at this point, and still so very dismayed that I paid $30 only for the Aryan facial recognition tool to be out of order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final installation was a short film that purported to be about reflecting the \u201ccurrent state of White identity in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was a 30-minute compilation of internet meme videos<\/a> spliced with scenes of racial violence, guns, and creepy staring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the way out of the screening room, I asked a couple visiting Vancouver from Australia whether they liked the exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was horrified. Horrified, devastated, saddened,\u201d the man said, before praising the exhibit and trailing off about \u201cviolence\u201d and \u201cso many wars.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man had been successfully programmed into hating his heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are a culture that preaches self-love: individuals should be self-confident, self-respecting, self-reliant. But how can white people love themselves if they are told repeatedly that they are oppressors, purveyors of violence, and racists just for existing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially when it is the high-culture institutions like galleries, museums, and universities beating them over the head with this message? The \u201cConceptions of White\u201d exhibit also received government funding through the Canada Council for the Arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit was palpably hateful and designed to demoralize. I left the gallery not inspired and infused with joie de vivre, but rather drained: it was as if I had just exited a zone of concentrated psychological warfare, and I had fortunately come out alive with my critical thinking faculties still intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The security guard had spoken highly of the Emily Carr exhibit, so I went upstairs to the fourth floor to gaze upon something beautiful for a change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read the paragraphs of text about Emily Carr\u2019s life that accompanied her paintings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarr proclaimed to document a \u2018disappearing Indigenous culture\u2019 by undertaking frequent sketching trips in the province and painting totemic sculptures and villages,\u201d the text read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was sincere in her effort to represent Indigenous villages and culture in her work, but naive of her own colonial response to Indigenous cultures and the exploitative and romanticizing effect of her artwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even up at this exhibit, the artist is scolded for \u201cromanticizing,\u201d by painting vibrant and expressive landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d had enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery: 0 out of 5 stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An inside look at the Vancouver Art Gallery\u2019s anti-white exhibit funded by the Federal Government By Lindsay Shepherd – November 8, 2023 FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsAppLinkedin A social media post about a hateful, anti-white exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery called \u201cConceptions of White\u201d recently went viral, so naturally, I had to go see it for myself. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2218,2217,2215,2216],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2992,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions\/2992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}