Camille Georgeson-Usher thinks a lot about how street art can foster a sense of belonging in Indigenous communities living in colonial urban spaces.
In an interview with The Journal, Georgeson-Usher, a teaching fellow and PhD candidate in Queen’s Languages, Literatures and Cultures program, discussed her art, passions, and field of research.
“I wanted to do a teaching fellowship [at Queen’s] to think about ways of talking about tense or difficult subject matters in a way that was a little bit more easy to enter into […] using a framework that made it a little more accessible,” she said.
“One thing that has always been consistent through my life has been hip hop. I love hip hop. I love street art. I love graffiti. All of it has been a part of me, and how I grew up, I suppose, and so I thought about how great it would be to teach a class that brings this interest that I have and how I have become who I am—interested in politics and interested in how policies or how a city affects us as humans—I was able to enter into these really intense conversations because of this form of artistic creation.”
At Queen’s, Georgeson-Usher has been able to explore both passions at once, through her class on Indigenous women in hip hop and her dissertation on the role of street art.
“I teach about predominantly Indigenous women in hip hop and how through the medium we are able to show a different perspective of a historically very masculine practice. So, it’s a lot of fun.”
Georgeson-Usher is drawn to both street art and hip hop because, in each, the artists transgress social norms in creating a space for necessary self-expression.
“The overarching way it allows for really intense conversations to come forward is because in the nature of hip hop or graffiti or whatever transpires from it, it never asks for permission to do what it needs to do,” she said.
“Graffiti artists aren’t asking for permission to tag a building. Thinking about some of the original hip hop OG’s, they weren’t asking to say these things. They were just saying them because they needed to be said, and because New York City was crumbling and they wanted to protect it. So, I think that that kind of history of this practice is really important for Indigenous women right now. Just having the ability to say things that need to be said that is unharnessed and just the way that it needs to come across is really powerful.”
Georgeson-Usher grew up in and around Vancouver.
“I’m from Galiano Island, B.C. Nobody knows what it is,” she said.
“But it’s the first island that you see just off the coast of Vancouver so as you’re looking out west, there’s Galiano Island amongst all the other islands.”
Her grandfather’s side is a mix of many Coast Salish nations, a group of Indigenous cultures from the pacific northwest, and her grandmother is from the Northwest Territories. According to Georgeson-Usher, moving away from home led her to interrogating her Indigenous identity.
“I moved to Montreal in 2010 to do my undergrad and my Masters, and when I was there it really helped me to figure out how I build community, and how a small, seemingly insignificant person—that’s how I felt at the time—can make a change in a city through the building of community, and so that’s when I started putting up stickers […] in the city of Montreal just to see a part of myself reflected back at me from this very colonial city,” she said.
Most of the stickers were images of herself—her favourite, a picture of her on a bike as a child. Later, she formed an Indigenous women’s biking group in Montreal that put up art installations over the city.
In her PhD and teaching fellowship, Georgeson-Usher is continuing the project of fostering community.
“What I try to look at is how we communities in urban spaces as racialized people and the way we move through urban spaces is much different than [how] non-racialized people will move through urban spaces. So, I look a lot at street art and how that helps us feel protected in spaces, or how it helps to show a history.”
Georgeson-Usher explained that living in Canadian cities with a history of colonialism is not always easy for Indigenous people.
“I think there needs to be more conversations around street art as a marking of territory and how problematic that can be from an Indigenous worldview and from Indigenous land specificity,” she said. “So, just thinking about what it means for me as a Coast Salish woman to create artwork in Mohawk territory, and if I am tagging Mohawk land, what does that entail? Am I using the tag as a form of dominance or am I using the tag as a form of respect for that land? That’s a complication to it that I’m thinking about.”
“But also, the way I see it is the buildings don’t reflect us,” she said. “The buildings of a city don’t reflect humanity; they reflect capitalism […] even a home reflects capitalism in the fact that individuals own land […] so what can art to do mark these spaces that make it feel less capitalistic? Even just seeing languages on the side of a building […] you can read a bit of yourself in that language.”
Currently, Georgeson-Usher has a mural up on the side of the Agnes, which depicts her and her grandmother.
“The mural itself is speaking to […] these places in between where we don’t necessarily know who we are or what we’re trying to do, and Kingston to me is very representative of that,” she said.
“You don’t see a lot of spaces for Indigenous folks on the campus other than Four Directions, and you see huge amounts of racism in the University. [I was] trying to add to racialized bodies [being] visually depicted on the side of a building […] so people would see that we actually are here.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
