NOT/FOR THE MONEY
Money is a very urgent issue for many artists. An aspect of this issue is the general public’s inability to value the arts and cultural workers’ vital role and impact within any community. There is a lack of understanding in the way cultural workers survive and build meaningful lives, often with a minimum of resources. The issue of money, the impact of economic disparity, and insecurity dominates many of our lives. Without a stable income, most people struggle to afford basic necessities that are required for quality of life.
The theme of money is addressed frequently within the art world, but usually it is in the context of the art “market,” commercial auctions, and wealthy collectors. Many artists work to imagine and engender new relationships, value systems, and ways of being. As journalist Eric Reguly wrote in The Globe and Mail business section, “You don’t necessarily need buckets of money to succeed. Sometimes imagination and the courage to break the rules can do the trick.
The theme of money is addressed frequently within the art world, but usually it is in the context of the art “market,” commercial auctions, and wealthy collectors. Many artists work to imagine and engender new relationships, value systems, and ways of being. As journalist Eric Reguly wrote in The Globe and Mail business section, “You don’t necessarily need buckets of money to succeed. Sometimes imagination and the courage to break the rules can do the trick.
Kelly Greene
Changing Currency: Prototype Kanata 151 $10 Bill
Kelly Greene, Changing Currency: Prototype Kanata 151 $10 Bill, 2018, photographic collage
On August 26, 1891, eight-year-old Thomas Moore Keesick enrolled in the Regina Indian Industrial School along with his brother Samuel and his sister Julia. He was the 22nd student registered in the school, which operated from 1891 to 1910 and he became known as No. 22. Moore was from the Muscowpetung Saulteaux First Nation, located about 45 minutes northeast of Regina and was the youngest child of Paul Desjarlais Sr. and Hannah Moore Keesick. Four years after enrolling, Moore was sent home ill with consumption, better known now as tuberculosis. He died from being at a residential school (records show 36 students died at the Regina Indian Industrial School, but the number is, perhaps, more). Propaganda like these before/after images of Indigenous children were used by the Department of Indian Affairs to justify the residential school system. Few knew that both the before and after photos were faked images with no connection to the Cree boy's real life. Thomas Moore's "before" clothing includes women's traditional attire which a male would never wear.
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Kelly Greene is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, of Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk), Onenio’te’a:ka (Oneida), and European (Sicilian) ancestry, and is a descendant of Turtle Clan. She is a multimedia artist whose work includes painting, sculpture, installation, and photo montage. Greene resides in London, Ontario, where she obtained a BFA from Western University after beginning her visual art studies at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She has exhibited for over thirty years in Canada and the United States. In 2021, Kelly was honoured to be selected as the inaugural Indigenous Artist-in-Residence at Western University.
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Ruth Strebe
