Tania Willard

This series of digital images explores value. The birchbark basket, cedar, and antlers have a direct relationship to the artist and the territory of the Secwepémc nation. The images were taken by the artist during this winter, marking a generative time for the land. The materials, carefully placed on the snow, are materials that Willard and her family harvested from the land and either made things with or consumed. The text is an acknowledgment and gratitude towards each material—an intentional valuing.Tania Willard, Secwepemc Nation and settler heritage, is an artist, curator and assistant professor her ongoing collaborative project BUSH gallery, is a land-based gallery grounded in Indigenous knowledges in her home territories of Secwepemcúl̓ecw.

“I am tied to my ancestors, we are tied to the land,” Secwépemc artisit Tania Willard tells Broken Boxes. With her Indigenous identity at the centre of her art and curations, Willard’s art becomes an act of resurgence. Revitalizing connections to land, culture and family, Willard’s art intersects

Led in collaboration with the University of Victoria the Feminist Art Field School is an online course geared towards students, artists, curators and communi...

In this artist talk, Tania Willard speaks about her work "Affirmations for Wildflowers: an Ethnobotany of Desire" (2020), a recent acquisition by the Belkin ...

Tania Willard's artist website and online portfolio.

Listen to this episode from Below the Radar on Spotify. Below the Radar has partnered with the Or Galley to bring you recordings of the Gas Imaginary Conversations series. This is the second of two talks from The Gas Imaginary, presented by the Or Gallery. This event was recorded virtually on Dec. 5, 2020. In this panel, Rachel O’Reilly, Tania Willard and Kanahus Manuel—with moderation by Denise Ryner—discuss the ongoing challenges of asserting land rights and the protection of water from each of their respective contexts. The speakers address the role of artistic practices and visual culture in making such struggles resonate with communities, both at home and across distance. Tania Willard, Secwepemc Nation, works as an artist and curator within the shifting ideas of contemporary and traditional as it relates to cultural arts and production. She often engages bodies of knowledge and skills that are conceptually linked to her interest in intersections between Aboriginal and other cultures. Her curatorial work includes Beat Nation: Art Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture (http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_beat_nation.html), a national touring exhibition first presented at Vancouver Art Gallery in 2011 as well as residencies at grunt gallery and Kamloops Art Gallery. She is currently assistant professor in Creative Studies at University of British Columbia Okanagan (Kelowna BC). She also founded and operates BUSH gallery, a conceptual space for land-based art and action led by Indigenous artists. Kanahus Manuel belongs to the Secwepemc Nation and founded the Tiny House Warrior movement as part of her ongoing work as an Indigenous water and land defender. She is also a member of the Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society. Her family has led the struggle for rights and sovereignty in Secwepemcul’ecw (territory of the Secwepemc people) for generations. Her late father Arthur Manuel, a former Secwepemc chief and residential school survivor, was an author and global champion for Indigenous rights and title in Canada and abroad. Her late grandfather George Manuel was the second president of the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) and founding president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. The Tiny House Warriors: Our Land Is Home Is A Part Of A Mission To Stop The Trans Mountain Pipeline From Crossing Unceded Secwepemc Territory In British Columbia. Ten Tiny Houses Will Be Built And Placed Strategically Along The 518 Km Trans Mountain Pipeline Route To Assert Secwepemc Law And Jurisdiction And Block Access To This Pipeline. Donate to Tiny House Warriors: https://www.classy.org/give/267006/#!/donation/checkout Seed is Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network. The organisation is building a movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people for climate justice with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. Their vision is for a just and sustainable future with strong cultures and communities, powered by renewable energy. Donate to Seed Mob: https://www.seedmob.org.au/donate Watch the video recording of this conversation here (CC included in video): https://thegasimaginary.orgalleryprojects.org/talks/ Listen to the Gas Imaginary Conversations No. 1: https://soundcloud.com/sfuw-community-engagement/gas-imaginary-1 About The Gas Imaginary: A multi-disciplinary project using poetry, collaborative drawings, installation, moving images, and lectures to unpack the broader significance of ‘settler conceptualism’, the racial logic of the property form and fossil fuel-based labour politics as capital reaches the limits of land use. In ongoing dialogue with elders of Gooreng Gooreng country and settler women activists, where fracking was approved for mass installation in ‘Australia’, new elements of this work address the threatened destruction to 50% of the Northern Territory. Read more: https://thegasimaginary.orgalleryprojects.org/ Image: Rachel O'Reilly, INFRACTIONS, 2019, acrylic paint and marker. Photo: Dennis Ha.

Listen to this episode from The Root & STEM Podcast on Spotify. On this episode of the Root & STEM podcast, Sofia Osborne speaks with Tania Willard, an Indigenous artist/curator and assistant professor at the University of British Columbia about her journey as an artist and connecting with and expressing her culture. Tania begins by sharing how her passion for art began and takes us through the stages of her career (01:08). Next, she offers some advice to art educators working in rural and indigenous communities (07:10). Finally, Tania describes what she calls the "Bush Gallery" (09:16).

Listen to this episode from Broken Boxes Podcast on Spotify. 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 currently focusing on in her artistic practice. She reflects on living and working on her Reserve and how she navigates being a mother and 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.

Listen to this episode from Broken Boxes Podcast on Spotify. This Episode will serve as an introduction to the #callresponse project series and will feature interview with Artists Tarah Hogue, Maria Hupfield and Tania Willard. Each episode released through August 2016 will highlight an artist involved in the #callresponse project. #callresponse presents the work of First Nations, Inuit and Métis women and artists as central to the strength and healing of their communities. This multifaceted project brings together five site­specific art commissions that invite collaboration with individuals, communities, lands and institutions. This socially engaged project focuses on the "act of doing" through performative actions, highlighting the responsibility of voice and necessity of communal dialogue practiced by Indigenous Peoples. An online platform will utilize the hashtag #callresponse on social media and a dedicated project website will serve to connect the geographically diverse sites and to generate discussion. An exhibition will be held at grunt gallery in October 2016 with guest respondents, accompanying programming, and a catalogue. The project is led by Tarah Hogue (French/Dutch/Métis), Maria Hupfield (Anishinaabe) and Tania Willard (Secwepemc) and features five lead artists working in the following locations: Maria Hupfield in New York NY, Tania Willard in Secwepemc Territory BC and invited artists Christi Belcourt (Métis) on Manitoulin Island ON, Ursula Johnson (Mi'kmaw) in Vancouver BC, and Laakkuluk Williamson­Bathory (Inuk) in Iqaluit NU.

As First Nations' land claims slowly grind their way through British Columbia's provincial courts, Secwepemc artist Tania Willard's work addresses territorial issues. Willard's practice is concerned with cultural displacement, transfer and translation. She uses screen-printing and stenciling process