Statement from Grenfell Art Gallery:

Our thoughts are with those for whom this has been a time of uncertainty, conflict, and trauma. We sit with our discomfort and feelings of insufficiency knowing that thoughts, words, and social media posts are inadequate for families who have lost loved ones and members of Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities that face injustice and discrimination daily. 

In the last couple of weeks, Grenfell Art Gallery's communication platforms have amplified black voices, highlighted fundraising initiatives in support of Black Lives Matter, and shared resources that are shaping the ways that we as an institution are thinking about and responding to this moment of global consciousness about the right of Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, and People of Colour to live without the threat of state-sanctioned violence. Museums are not neutral. We are colonial institutions, instrumentally connected and entangled with systemic racism, patriarchy, and imperialism.  Forces that have perpetuated social injustices in Ktaqmkuk, through colonialism, genocide, and enslavement. Artist Charles Gaines succinctly frames the fundamental paradox that is the seed of the mission of the contemporary art museum: "museums exist in a global world, but that this world is still evolving from a colonial history, and is therefore bifurcated along the racial and ethnic lines engineered by this history. Despite its global nature, this world remains dominated by a Eurocentric world-view that privileges whites of European descent over people of color."[1] 

We must be better. We will be better. We are committed to addressing these issues meaningfully in our exhibitions, programming, collecting, and publishing activities. Future collecting activities will seek to redress the lack of Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA2S+, disabled, POC, and neurodiverse artists in our collection. We are looking for resources to diversify our staff, and have initiated anti-oppression and anti-racist training for current staff. We believe that this is an ongoing practice, pursued from a posture of care that will affect slow but permanent change. We are committed to ongoing transparency and accountability and look forward to updating you on our ongoing progress. 

[1] Gaines, Charles. "A Tale of Conflict: The Contemporary Museum in the Age of Liberalism." Open Space, SFMOMA, 8 Mar. 2016, openspace.sfmoma.org/2016/03/charles-gaines.