David Garneau

Contact Info

Research Interests

David Garneau (Métis Nation of Saskatchewan) is a Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He is a painter, curator and critical art writer who engages creative expressions of Indigenous contemporary ways of being. Garneau curated Kahwatsiretátie: The Contemporary Native Art Biennial (Montreal, 2020) with assistance from Faye Mullen and rudi aker; co-curated, with Kathleen Ash Milby, Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound, National Museum of the American Indian, New York (2017); With Secrecy and Despatch, with Tess Allas, for the Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney, Australia (2016); and Moving Forward, Never Forgetting, with Michelle LaVallee, at the Mackenzie Art Gallery (2015). Garneau has given keynotes on issues such as: mis/appropriation; re/conciliation; public art; museum displays; and Indigenous contemporary art. His performance, Dear John, featuring the spirit of Louis Riel meeting with John A. Macdonald statues, was presented in Regina, Kingston, and Ottawa. David recently installed a large public art work, the Tawatina Bridge paintings, in Edmonton. His recent still life paintings, Dark Chapters, curated by Arin Fay, will tour Canada and be accompanied by a book in fall 2025. This year, Garneauwas awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Art: Outstanding Achievement, and was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada.

Recent Publications

• “James Nicholas and Sandra Semchuk’s Intimate Politics.” Ithin-eh-wuk-we place ourselves at 
• the center: James Nicholas and Sandra Semchuck. Timothy Long and Sandra Semchuck, eds. Mackenzie Art Gallery (in collaboration with Museum London), 2023. 35-41.
• “Un-Settling Criticism: David Garneau wants to write about Indigenous Art with Critical Care.” 
• Interview with Matthew Rana. Nordic Art Review. https://kunstkritikk.com/un-settling-art-criticism/June 30, 2023.
• “The 83rd Call to Action: Indigenous/Settler Art Collaborations explored.” Rungh magazine,
• Vol. 9, # 3, 2022. https://rungh.org/the-83rd-call-to-action/
• “Colonial Trophy Case to Non-Colonial Keeping House.” The Routledge Companion to 
• Indigenous Art Histories in the United States and Canada. Igloliorte, Heather, and Carla 
• Taunton, eds. New York, NY: Routledge, 2022. 235-246.
• “From Indian to Indigenous: Temporary Pavilion to Sovereign Display Territories.” In Search of 
• Expo 67. Monika Kin Gagnon and Lesley Johnstone, eds. McGill-Queens University Press. 2020. 135-146.
• “Writing About Indigenous Art with Critical Care.” C Magazine. Issue 145, Spring 2020.
• https://www.cmagazine.com/issues/145/writing-about-indigenous-art-with-critical-care
• Reprint: Momus. https://momus.ca/writing-about-indigenous-art-with-critical-care/March 25, 2020.
• “Extra-Rational Indigenous Performance: Dear John; Louis David Riel.” Canadian Theatre 
• Review. University of Toronto Press. Vol 178, Spring 2019. 72-76. 
• “Can I get a Witness? Indigenous Art Criticism.” Sovereign Words: Indigenous Art, Curation and Criticism. Katya Garcia-Anton, editor. Office of Contemporary Art Norway, Oslo. 2018. 15-31.