LAIWAN — interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator

Creative City Strategy Symposium




It was my pleasure to be on the panel Land and Bodies: Reconciliation & Cultural Redress in Public Art at the Creative City Strategy symposium organized by Cultural Services of the City of Vancouver, on March 4, 2019, at the Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton Street. We were asked to examine the question:

How are artists claiming space to centre land and bodies that various structural forces have attempted to erase from the public realm and imagination?

Panelists will explore ways artists working in the public realm reinscribe land and bodies whose stories have been displaced by systemic forces of colonialism and racism.

Marcia Crosby, Curator, Writer, Researcher; PhD – Art History and Cultural Theory, UBC

Arash Khakpour, Cofounder; Pressed Paradise, Co-Founder; The Biting School

Laiwan, Artist; Faculty – Goddard College; Founder – Or Gallery

Dylan Robinson, Assistant Professor Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts – Queens University

Vanessa Richards, Artist; Director – Creative Together Community; Community Engagement Director – 312 Main

The Creative City Strategy symposium was a remarkable day that offered many learnings. Thank you to our Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh hosts, staff at Vancouver Civic Theatres, panelists, interpreters, artists, videographers, graphic recorders, facilitators and participants for making the symposium possible. 

This symposium is a significant component in the development of the Creative City Strategy, a culture plan to guide the City of Vancouver’s efforts to support art, culture and creative work and life.
Download the program: Symposium Brochure (PDF)

Watch the video recordings
Daytime Program

Evening Program