Artist in Residence
Kemi Craig has been selected as the 2022-2024 Artist in Residence
Victoria-based dancer and visual artist, Kemi Craig has been selected as the City’s third Artist in Residence. (Image credit: Cedar Coast Photography)
Through her lived experience as a woman of African descent, Kemi’s art utilizes dance, analogue and digital visual technologies to center experiences for people with racialized and gendered bodies. She is inspired by Black history and Afrofuturism, dance that expresses and augments what we do every day, DIY culture and by visual histories and pop cultural production.
Kemi is a graduate from the Emily Carr University of Art Design with a Masters degree in Fine Art. Since graduating she has exhibited and performed through local arts centers as well as across BC and Canada. Her film and video work has been exhibited at local galleries such as Legacy Art Gallery, Flux Gallery, the Ministry of Casual Living as well as the Victoria International Film Festival and Antimatter Media Arts Festival. She has worked with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and Xchanges Gallery as an artist educator/mentor and curator. For the past three years, Kemi has been the Artist in Residence with Dance Victoria, and has danced as a solo artist and company dancer local community events and shows and in a documentary about the experiences of local Black dancers. Most recently, she performed at the Art in the Open Contemporary Arts Festival in Charlottetown, PEI.
Her aim during her residency is to create multi-sensory, site-specific installations and performances, embedded with community and audience engagement. Kemi believes that it is important to share opportunities for the community to be involved in art making. “I am excited about the process of making art and working collaboratively to create performances that share agency with the other artists and create opportunities for audiences to participate by becoming activators and storytellers,” says Kemi. “The opportunity to serve as the Artist in Residence for the City of Victoria will assist me in bringing art to public spaces. I look forward to creating alongside you all.”
Meet and Greet
The public is invited to meet Kemi Craig at a Meet and Greet event in the Antechambers at City Hall on Tuesday, November 22 at 6 p.m.. The free event will feature an artist talk and demonstration from Kemi, as well as an opportunity for the community to ask questions. All ages are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.
Call to Artists
Thank you to everyone who applied. The Call to Artists is now closed. The deadline to submit an Expression of Interest was July 4, 2022 at 4 p.m.
The Artist in Residence program gives a professional artist the opportunity to work collaboratively with the community, City staff, and the Art in Public Places Committee to identify and develop an art plan over a two-year term. The program was open to mid-career professional artists working in visual media (painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, crafts, photography, film, and video), music, performance, and literary art. The artist had to be a resident of British Columbia. All applications were reviewed by a selection panel and shortlisted applicants underwent an interview process with the City’s Art in Public Places Committee.
For more information contact culture@victoria.ca
About the Artist in Residence Program
The Artist in Residence program aims to provide the opportunity for a professional artist to work collaboratively with City staff and the community to identify and develop creative artworks and projects, and augment capital projects over a two-year term.
The Artist in Residence is embedded in the City’s planning process, providing a unique creative and collaborative approach to enhance the value and aesthetic appeal of upcoming capital projects in Victoria, while broadening community involvement in the arts.
Previous Artist in Residence
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