France Trepanier
Curator
France Trépanier is a visual artist, curator and researcher of Kanien’kéha:ka and French ancestry. Her artistic and curatorial work has been presented in many venues in Canada and in Europe. France was selected to be part of the International Indigenous Curators Exchange in Australia, New Zealand and the 2017 Venice Biennale. She was the co recipient of the 2012 Inaugural Audain Aboriginal Curatorial Fellowship by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. She co-authored with Chris Creighton-Kelly Understanding Aboriginal Art in Canada Today: a Knowledge and Literature Review. She worked at the Canada Council for the Arts before becoming a Senior Arts Policy Advisor for the Department of Canadian Heritage. She held a diplomatic post as First Secretary, Cultural Affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Paris. She directed the Centre for New Media at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris. France was also the co-founder and Director of the artist-run center Axe Néo-7 in Gatineau, Quebec.
Gerry Ambers
Elder and Cultural Advisor
Gerry Ambers was born into the ‘Namgis Nation of Alert Bay, BC. She studied Northwest Coast design with acclaimed carver Doug Cranmer and Chinese painting with Lloyd Yee, receiving her BFA from the University of Victoria in 1992. Ambers took classes with Cranmer in Alert Bay, where he taught in the basement of the building that once housed the St. Michael’s Residential School. During the 1980s, Ambers worked with Cranmer on a number of projects including the post and beam construction of U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay and the Folk Life Pavilion at Expo ‘86 in Vancouver, and the totem pole restoration in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Ambers attributes her creativity to her lineage, the natural and unseen world, and the visual influences around her. She is currently Elder in residence at Open Space Art Society in Victoria, BC.
Steven Davies
Videographer & Witness
Steven Davies is a filmmaker and media artist of Coast Salish (Snuneymuxw) and European descent. He makes films and media art that focus on Indigenous histories and epistemologies to educate himself and others. Steven's films have screened in film festivals nationally and internationally and have been featured in group exhibitions at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Nanaimo Art Gallery, and the AGGV. He is a grateful recipient of a BC Creative Achievement Award for First Nations Art (2017) and has recently completed an MFA at the University of British Columbia. https://vimeo.com/ steventhomasdavies
Breanna Fabbro
Assistant Curator
Breanna Fabbro is an arts coordinator and artist living as an uninvited guest on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ traditional territories. She graduated from UVic in 2016 with a MFA in painting and soon after began work at Open Space as a Program Coordinator, with much thanks to an Early Career Development grant from the BCAC. At Open Space she curated Forestrial Brain and was Assistant Curator to co curators France Trépanier, Michelle Jacques, and Doug Jarvis for Deconstructing Comfort.
Since 2017 she has been working with Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires as a Programs Manager and is grateful for the ongoing learning and mentorship from France Trépanier and Chris Creighton-Kelly. She is also currently working for Full Circle: First Nations Performance as a Project Manager. She is of Italian, English, and Czech ancestry
