Public Roundtable Discussion

Join us for a roundtable discussion with artist Maddie Leach, and moderated by Kamala Todd, exploring Lowering Simon Fraser and themes of catalyzing public awareness and generating dialogue around commemorative monuments, and the complex implications of their continued presence in our current time.

Biographies

Maddie Leach was born in Auckland, New Zealand and is currently Senior Lecturer in Fine Arts at Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She is also a doctoral candidate at Deakin University, Melbourne. Recent presentations of her work include The Grief Prophesy, Gothenburg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (2017); The Blue Spring / Mata Air Murni, Jakarta Biennale (2015)and 28th October 2834 for Spaced: Future Recall, Western Australian Museum, Perth (2015). Her project If you find the good oil let us know (2012-2014) was nominated for the Walters Prize 2014 at Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand. Lowering Simon Fraser was selected via a peer-reviewed process for the 2019 Project Anywhere platform—a partnership between the Centre of Visual Art (University of Melbourne) and Parsons Fine Art (Parsons School of Design, The New School).

Kamala Todd is a Metis-Cree community planner who makes films and writes about the stories and cultures layered within the Indigenous lands upon which she is a grateful guest. Born and raised in the beautiful lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Skwxwú7mesh-speaking people (also known as Vancouver), she has a Masters degree in Geography (UBC) and an ever-growing list of documentary films and community arts projects. For six years she was the City of Vancouver’s Aboriginal Social Planner, and she continues to work with the City to help build relationships within the context of (re)conciliation. Kamala’s film credits include Indigenous Plant Diva, Cedar and Bamboo and Sharing our Stories: the Vancouver Dialogues Project. She writes and directs for children’s television, including the Indigenous science series Coyote’s Crazy Smart Science Show and the Cree language series Nehiyawetan, both on APTN. She completed a video series about Indigenous law for UVic’s Indigenous Law Research Unit. Her most recent published piece is entitled, “This Many-storied Land,” in the 2016 book, In This Together: Fifteen Stories of Truth and Reconciliation. Kamala lives with her partner and two sons on the Sunshine Coast.