Research Assistant 2022 - To Change We Must Reflect

Content Warning: racist incidents, colonial violence, images of blackface and cultural appropriation

To understand the issues within an institution we must reflect on its origins: research into the development of an institution will often reveal how its original values and practices have present-day consequences. Through this position I accessed the Emily Carr University school archives where I came upon documentation of school events, student clubs and initiatives, and student magazines dating all the way back to when the university opened as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts. Documentation of the school in the 1920’s consisted of journaling with pen and paper, clippings of newspaper articles, as well as digital scans. Looking through the archival documentation of the school really brought to reality this project as I physically was able to see the transformation of the school as a physical and conceptual entity. 

What we now know as Emily Carr University was founded in 1925 as the School of Decorative and Applied Arts. There was no connection to any particular artists in institutional name until 1978 when a decision was taken to change the name to Emily Carr College of Art and Design.  

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Carr was born around the time the “Indian Act” was passed into legislation in Canada. The Act was used as a tool to terrorize Indigenous communities into Euro-centric ways of living in an attempt to strip them of their Indigeneity. Carr’s whole image as an artist was successful due to the Indigenous communities she infiltrated, subjecting them to the white gaze, and not allowing these communities to have agency over how they were portrayed. This placed her in a position of colonial violence; in which she appropriated these Indigenous communities she claimed to be inspired by. 

The timing of this name change is quite disturbing as it occurred not long after the Red Paper Act was presented to parliament. This was the first time Indigenous people went into Parliament Hill with traditional regalia in an act of decolonization and gained a small amount of sovereignty for their communities. This questions the intentions of this name change; why praise an artist that was so harmful to the communities who’s suffering and resistance is now being recognized? It also raises a major question, were Indigenous and Black students welcomed when the university changed its name to that of a problematic artist who exploited, fetishized, and profited off Indigenous communities? In speaking with the records department at school it was revealed that at the time of its founding the institution did not collect demographics such as ethnicity or racial identity.  

Going back to when the university first opened in 1925, it was a small exclusive institution catering to white middle/upper class artists. My research in the university archives revealed that the graduating classes from the early years were majority white, with the presence of a few East Asian students. Throughout the 1900’s the demographic did not change, and not only did it not change but it pushed a white supremacist agenda.  

Every year the institution hosted balls, each one pertaining to a certain theme. These were the Beaux Arts Ball which were hosted from 1926-1991. These balls were known in Vancouver as they were advertised in the local newspaper. The ball themes were associated with locations and cultures, but they definitely were not appreciating them. Violent colonial language was used in the advertising of these balls such as “the exotic oriental” and “the darkest continent”. These balls encouraged a racist perspective in which white students seemed to have been encouraged to dress in blackface in addition to the extensive cultural appropriation of traditional clothing and culture. In the archives there are even photographs of these balls in which this problematic violent behavior is documented, proving at the time the institution saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. The archival photos show students dressed as “native slave girl” and “Algerian dancing girl”. This set to the historical backdrop of black segregation remaining in schools until the passing of the 1977 Canadian Human Rights Act. Emily Carr was most certainly contributing to the racism that further excluded Black folks from education.  

Discovering these archives made me realize the problem is always in the foundation. This institution was founded in a time where Indigenous, Black and other people of colour did not have rights and rather than there being a reflection and revolution, the institution pushed their agenda farther by naming the school after Emily Carr. This name now stands as a constant reminder of colonial violence to those that pass through the school.