Elusive Desires: Towards a Queer Feminist Asian Diasporic Approach to Museum Education and Curation

ABSTRACT

This case study traces the initial investigations in developing a culturally responsive intervention in museum education and curation entitled Elusive Desires. I explore the ways in which curatorial and pedagogical work in an art museum may disrupt traditionally held notions of “Canadian art,” the archive, and belonging. Embracing an intersectional approach, I take on a queer feminist Asian diasporic lens to thinking through all aspects of the curatorial intervention, from the participating artists and the educational outreach to the community and school groups. I argue that taking on such a lens enacts curating and museum education as a social intervention that counteracts anti-Asian racism, toxic heterosexual masculinity, and settler-colonial logics that are frighteningly prevalent today.

KEYWORDS:

• Queer
• Asian diaspora
• museum education
• intersectionality
• 2SLGBTQIA+

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank NSCAD University Master of Arts in Art Education students Sofia Cardone and Muriel Farmer for their curriculum development on this project and to my amazing research assistants Renée Brazeau and Jacob Fleet. Her sincere gratitude goes to Curator of the Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Anik Glaude, and the fantastic artists of Elusive Desires, Ness Lee and Florence Yee for their vital participation in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 F.H. Varley’s male chauvinist imaginary was made glaringly apparent in this 1959 MacLean’s story: “Often Varley has difficulty in finding women who stir his talent.” A few years ago the painter R. York Wilson met Varley on Yonge Street, Toronto, and noticed that the older man was looking “desperate.” Almost wringing his hands Varley said:

I can't find any women to paint. People keep bringing me women they think are beautiful. But as soon as I get these women into the studio, I see in their faces nothing but emptiness . . . emptiness . . . emptiness.

2 Main Street Unionville, the street on which the Varley Art Gallery is located, is a settler heritage conservation district and tourist destination. Settled in 1794 by Europeans, the businesses, shops, and homes along the street maintain their old-world charm. It is a popular location for wedding photography.

3 Anik Glaude (Curator of the Varley Gallery) in an interview with the author, February 2021.

4 Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, “Census Profile, 2016 Census – Markham, City [Census Subdivision], Ontario and Ontario [Province],” February 8, 2017.

5 Kelly, “Police Descend.”

6 For more examples of anti-Asian racism in Canadian history, visit: https://www.ourwindsor.ca/news-story/10349793-timeline-this-is-canada-s-history-of-anti-asian-racism-that-covid-19-has-amplified/

7 Burke, “Intuition and Vulnerability,” 404.

8 Diaz, Largo, and Pino, Diasporic Intimacies.

9 Largo, “Transnational Kinship, Diasporic Mourning and Belonging in the Canadian Animation World,” 123–33.

10 Largo, “A Country That Does Not Exist,” 108–30.

11 Ethnically and linguistically distinct from the Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking groups, the Hakka people originated from the southern provinces of China. They are the largest group of diasporic people from China with approximately 80–120 million Hakka worldwide. Translated to “guest people,” the Hakka people have been migrating out of China since the 13th century and have globally dispersed to countries such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Jamaica.

12 Ness Lee (artist) in an interview with the author, March 2021.

13 Ibid.

14 Halberstam, The Queer Art of Failure.

15 Ibid.

16 Ness Lee (artist) in an interview with the author, March 2021.

17 Florence Yee (Artist) in an interview with the author, March 2021.

18 Literally meaning “nobody’s land,” terra nullius is a legal doctrine that denotes that a land is uninhabited, and thus serves as justification for colonization.

19 Muñoz, Cruising Utopia, 7.

20 Reilly, Curatorial Activism, 7.

21 Gopinath, Impossible Desires, 16.

22 Getsy and Simmons, “Appearing Differently,” 43.

23 The Ontario curriculum, grades 1–8: The Arts, 2009 (revised).

24 Greteman, “Non-Advice,” 42.

25 Ibid.

26 Cosier and Sanders, “Queering Art Teacher Education,” 21–30.

27 Ria, “Finding (One)Self in Art Education,” 27.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the SSHRC Research Development Fund Grant from the NSCAD Office of Academic Affairs and Research and the Committee of Status and Affairs.

Notes on contributors

Marissa Largo

Dr. Marissa Largo (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Art and Art History at York University. She was formerly an Assistant Professor of Art Education at NSCAD University. Her work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, settler colonialism, and Asian diasporic cultural production. Her forthcoming book, Unsettling Imaginaries: Filipinx Contemporary Artists in Canada (University of Washington Press) examines the work and oral histories of artists who imagine Filipinx subjectivity beyond colonial logics. She is co-editor of the ground-breaking anthology Diasporic Intimacies: Queer Filipinos and Canadian Imaginaries. She serves as the Canada Area Editor of the Journal of Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas.