INVC students receive Ontario Heritage Award 

Eight undergraduate students from OCAD University’s Indigenous Visual Culture Program (INVC) received Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards for their project Uncover/Recover. A joint web-based project with the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), the students, led by Professor Bonnie Devine, worked with curators and others to create an educational, interactive, accessible and informative multimedia exhibition to celebrate Indigenous peoples’ creative legacy – past, present and future. 

Award recipients (Michael Crawford, Ana Morningstar Cisneros, Megan Feheley, Shawn Johnston, Mariah Meawasige and Karalyn Reuben) with Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Harvey McCue, Chair, Ontario Heritage Trust, and Professor Bonnie Devine.

Students learned new digital and creative processes, engaged with senior Indigenous scholars, knowledge keepers and museum workers, and analyzed their chosen objects. Their work uncovered and recovered the objects’ original purposes and re-engaged them in the work of Indigenous social reconstruction and restoration. The resulting artistic responses range from humorous to poignant, analytical to emotional, and provide a unique picture of contemporary Indigenous thought and creation. 

The awards were presented at a ceremony led by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on Friday, February 22. Established in 2007, the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards are annual juried awards administered by the Ontario Heritage Trust to recognize exceptional achievements in heritage conservation. Presented each year in a ceremony at Queen’s Park, the awards are part of the Trust’s annual celebrations marking Heritage Week.