In response to "Who deserves to be on the West's canon?"

Posted on November 11 @ 10:20 a.m.

On November 6, The Vancouver Sun published "Who deserves to be on the West's canon?" by Douglas Todd.

Our letter to the Editor in response to this article, submitted on November 8, was constrained by a particularly short word count. Please find that text below. Beneath it is the full-length version as we originally intended.

Submitted November 8, 2010:

As the co-authors of “An Open Letter to Marc Mayer, Director of the National Gallery of Canada,” we are disappointed by Douglas Todd’s recent article “Who Deserves To Be On The West’s Canon?” (November 6, 2010). According to Mr. Todd, the letter accused Mr. Mayer “of being ‘hegemonic,’ favouring dead white men over women, ethnic minorities, and aboriginals, thereby marginalizing them.” It claimed no such thing and did not mention “dead white men.” At no point in the letter was Mr. Mayer or NGC called “racist.” Instead, the letter focused on the notion of excellence, which, like the “Western Canon,” is both extremely powerful and dangerously vague. It is important to remember that these are the distinctions of an elite that seeks to maintain power, ignoring those who disagree with them or have different perspectives. The problem is not who has shown work at NGC, but who will show work. All we want is a public forum for a debate about this. Why is this so scary?

The original open letter can be viewed here: http://excellenceatthenationalgallery.blogspot.com/

Emily Falvey (Montreal) and Milena Placentile (Winnipeg)


Original version:

As the co-authors of “An Open Letter to Marc Mayer, Director of the National Gallery of Canada” (March 1, 2010), we are disappointed by Douglas Todd’s recent article “Who Deserves To Be On The West’s Canon?” (November 6, 2010). Unfortunately, it misrepresents our efforts to hold the Director of NGC accountable for disturbing comments he made in a CBC program called “DiasporART” (February 2, 2010).

For an illustration of how cultural institutions, such as museums and media outlets, create skewed hierarchies of merit and importance, look not further than the history of this open letter. According to Mr. Todd, as the authors of this petition we “accused the National Art Gallery Director of being ‘hegemonic,’ favouring dead white men over women, ethnic minorities and aboriginals, thereby marginalizing them.” In reality, we said no such thing and made no mention of “dead white men.” At no point in our letter do we call Mr. Mayer or the National Gallery of Canada “racist.” While race is certainly our central theme, what we are more concerned about is the idea of excellence, which, like the so-called “Western Canon,” is extremely powerful and dangerously indefinite. There is no single, centralized list of artists belonging to the “Western Canon.” Historically, these kinds of hierarchies have created problems for minority groups, whose work might, for any number of reasons, be marginalized. For example, according to Mayer’s logic of excellence, if contemporary artists from British Columbia are not being given solo shows at the National Gallery of Canada, it is because they are not excellent. Not only is this notion ridiculous, it is offensive.

The problem is not who has shown their work at NGC (although its record of diversity is by no means perfect), but who will show their work given this new mandate. Mr. Mayer has told his side of the story in the Ottawa Citizen, the National Post, and The Walrus. Over 300 professionals signed our letter—many of them artists whose work is already in NGC’s collection—yet no one from a major media outlet has contacted us for an interview, and this includes Mr. Todd. Instead of hearing calls for a wider public debate and meaningful discussion, we have been called names. All we want is a forum for a balanced public debate concerning cultural diversity at the National Gallery of Canada now and in the future. Why is this so scary?

Emily Falvey (Montreal) and Milena Placentile (Winnipeg)