Grade 7/8 History and Geography
By Muriel Farmer
GRADE/SUBJECT: Grade 7/8 History and Geography
LESSON TITLE: Identity, Diversity and Representation – Who is represented and included/excluded in Canada’s history and heritage?
PRE-LESSON LEARNING with Links
If educators are unfamiliar with Chinese Canadian and Asian Canadian immigration history and culture, please consider using the following educational resources before visiting the exhibition.
General Asian Canadian History:
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/asian-heritage-month/importantevents.html
The Building of the Canadian Pacific Railway: https://www.history.com/news/transcontinentalrailroad-chinese-immigrants
https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/chapter/5-8-race-ethnicity-andimmigration/
The Ties That Bind Project:
Students may to listen to the “audio gallery”. The oral histories found here are provided by people whose ancestors were involved in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. https://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/LearningResources.php#
Students can investigate primary and secondary evidence by looking at historical photos and
newspaper clippings from The Ties That Bind project gallery.
LESSON DESCRIPTION
Students will explore various artworks in the Elusive Desires exhibition (either virtually or in-person). In this educational guide, students will investigate topics such as Chinese diasporic identities by examining the symbolism in Ness Lee’s and Lan Florence Yee’s artwork. They will be introduced to instances of Anti-Asian racism throughout Canadian history and colonial myths of nationhood.
Students will be guided into deeper consideration of the artworks by applying the stages of the Critical Analysis Process as outlined by the Ontario Visual Arts curriculum. This will be followed by a mapping and a drawing activity.
Guiding Questions
How has our understanding of Canadian identity evolved over time?
Who is included/excluded when we talk about Canada’s identity and history?
Do you see yourself/your identity represented through Canada’s History? What/who is missing from our high school history curriculum?
Vocabulary
Asian Canadian: Canadians who trace their ancestry back to Asia.
Cantonese: A person who is from the Guangzhou region in South China. Cantonese is also a dialect spoken in regions of China (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong.
Chinatown: community living centres for Chinese Canadians. They were created because the Chinese were forbidden to purchase land or other property investment. The first Chinese community was called Barkerville in British Columbia.
Chinese Head Tax: The Canadian government implemented the head tax to restrict and dissuade Chinese immigration into Canada. It was enforced between 1885 to 1923 and it became the first legislation to exclude immigration from a targeted ethnic group. It was called the Chinese Immigration Act 1885 (also known as the “Chinese exclusion act”). There was a 50-dollar Head Tax fee that every Chinese immigrant had to pay in order to enter Canada. Then in 1900, the Head Tax was raised to 100 dollars and in1903 head tax was raised to 500 dollars. In 1923 the Canadian government continued to restrict Chinese immigration further by creating very narrow acceptance categories to enter back into Canada once they had left. Out of fear of not being allowed to re-enter Canada, many Chinese Canadian residents did not reunite with family in China. The head tax was repealed in 1947.
Chinese Railroad Workers: The building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad was created by the Canadian government to unite western and eastern parts of Canada with the railway. After the gold rush and railway building in the United States, the new gold rush in Fraser Valley, BC, the need for labourers for the building of the CPR attracted Chinese workers from both the United States and China. The railroad working conditions were dangerous and life-threatening. The Chinese worker’s duties covered tunnelling, carpentry, handling dynamite and other intensive labour. Many died from malnutrition, dangerous dynamite work, fatigue, drowning, lack of medical aid, scurvy, diseases, cold weather and environmental hardships.
Colonialism: Control by one power over a dependent area or people.
Commemoration (ceremony): A celebration or gathering for remembering a person or an event. Ex. Remembrance Day.
Cultural Object (Artifact): Objects such as food and man-made objects such as tools, clothing or art that have social meaning in a culture.
Desire: a strong wish or longing for something. It can also mean wishing for something to happen.
Diaspora: dispersal of a group of people to a variety of different locations from your origins (e.g., the Jewish diaspora or the Chinese diaspora). People who have left their home country and community and move elsewhere, usually far from where they lived originally.
Electoral Franchise Act of 1885: All people of Chinese descent were not allowed to vote in federal elections.
Elusive: difficult to achieve or find.
Embroider(y): often decorative patterns, images and text sewing patterns used with yarn and a needle.
Group of Seven: Group of artists created in the 1920s. A group of landscape painters painted “Canadian landscapes” including forests, mountains, lakes, rocks, icebergs, etc that are most typical of the Canadian Shield. Their paintings were seen as the “Canadian wilderness” often with no or very little human life within the landscapes, Creating a romanticized view of the “untouched and wild” land.
ELUSIVE DESIRES
Hakka Chinese: An ethnic group in China. A Hakka-Chinese person is someone who is also from the southern regions in China. Historically the Hakka people originated from a few northern regions in China and eventually migrated to the south because they were fleeing war and poverty.
Identity: Knowing who or what you are. The character or personality of a person.
Immigration Policy: The laws and regulations on who can enter Canada.
Komagata Maru: An example of Canada excluding immigration from India. In the summer of 1914. South Asians and Punjabi men from the North of India tried to migrate to British Columbia and other areas along the Pacific coast. One of the immigration policies was that Canada blocked entry to people who did not have a continuous journey from their home country. Only those who had a direct route from their homeland were allowed to enter Canada. In addition, Immigration officers enforced a $200 dollar fee for any Asian (exempted were Chinese and Japanese) to enter. The Canadian government had rewritten the regulation of immigration legal documents of April 1914. The ship arrived at Vancouver harbour in May,1914. They were refused entry, and limited to communication and only shipped food and water when the situation became desperate. There were protests in Vancouver against Indian Immigration. An effort was made with lawyers who brought the case to the British Columbia Court of Appeal, but entry was still denied. The boat turned back. Many were arrested and sent to prison on their return in Budge Budge because the reputation spread that the boat was used as a form of revolution against the British Colonies.
LGBTQ2S+: An acronym that includes sexual orientations and gender identities. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/transitioning, Queer/questioning, 2 spirit.
Migrant: A person who moves from location to location to find work or better living conditions.
Queer: An umbrella term for a person who does not identify as heterosexual and not cis gender (relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex).
LESSON OUTLINE
*This lesson is designed for an in-person gallery visit, however, if necessary, it may be adapted to a remote learning format. Teachers will be supplied with a slide deck presentation containing images of relevant artworks in the exhibition and carry out the lesson plan outside of the gallery setting.
TIMELINE
(approx. 3 hours)
Presentation (40 mins)
Critical Analysis Process Question charts (3 CAP sheets in total, 30-40 mins discussion each)
Diasporic Map Activity (20 mins)
Time Capsule Activity: Cultural Objects and Hospitality (30 mins)
Materials
Pen/Pencil
Eraser
Ruler
Pencil crayons, crayons, markers, etc. (anything to use for colouring)
Sheet of paper
Introduction
Land Acknowledgment
If visiting in-person, before students, teachers, educators, and visitors explore Elusive Desires: Ness Lee and Lan Florence Yee, please conduct a land acknowledgment in order to recognize the rightful Indigenous stewards of the land upon which you are situated. Please refer to Native Land to identify the traditional territories, languages, and treaties that are associated with your context.
Take a moment to think about the land you are standing on, including the lakes, water, shorelines, mountains, hills, forests, etc. In accordance with Indigenous protocol, it is important to build respectful relationships between Indigenous nations and non-Indigenous people. Think about the land where the art gallery is built on. We recognize this land; Canada was taken from the Indigenous communities and nations. It is important to recognize the cultures, ceremonies, and traditions of the local Indigenous communities. We are thankful for the sharing of the land, and we would like to honour the treaties that had been broken.
Exhibition Description
Elusive Desires traces the intimacies and (be)longings of two artists of Chinese descent, Ness Lee and Lan Florence Yee, that are obscured by dominant heteropatriarchal imaginaries in Canada. The artists' desires, as embodied through illustration, painting, installation, embroidery, and sculpture, visualize the politics of difference in terms of gender, sexuality, and race, but do so in seductive and sometimes, ironic ways. For Ness Lee and Lan Florence Yee, (be)longing is elusive, but from the periphery, these two artists unabashedly assert their presence and power through art
(Marissa Largo, Curator).
Present: About the Artists
Ness Lee (they/she) draws upon history and personal narratives to create tender and surreal illustrations, paintings, sculptures, and installations. Exploring states of mind during intimate stages of vulnerability, Lee’s work takes form as an effort in seeking comfort, forgiveness, and desire for an end of a self-perpetuated state. Based in Toronto, their work has been featured at the AGO, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, the Gardiner Museum, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, as well as galleries in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal and Toronto. Lee has also participated in mural festivals in Canada and Internationally in Hyderabad, India and Cozumel, Mexico. They have a BDes in Illustration from OCAD U.
Lan Florence Yee (they/he) is a visual artist and recovering workaholic based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Their practice uses text-based art, sculpture, and textile installation through the intimacy of doubt. Their work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art (2021), the Art Gallery of Ontario (2020), the Textile Museum of Canada (2020), and the Gardiner Museum (2019), among others. Along with Arezu Salamzadeh, they have co-founded the Chinatown Biennial in 2020, and were formally part of Tea Base. They obtained a BFA from Concordia University and an MFA from OCAD U.
What do the artists mean when they use the word diaspora?
The definition of diaspora: is a dispersal of a group of people to a variety of different locations from your origins (e.g., the Jewish diaspora or the Chinese diaspora). People who have left their home country and community and move elsewhere, usually far from where they lived originally.
Discuss
Ask the group the following questions for an open discussion.
What do you think are the reasons people and communities move to different countries?
Is it for economic, safety and security, or political reasons?
Present: What do the artists mean when they say they are Cantonese and Hakka?
Lan Florence Yee (they/he) identifies as Cantonese. A Cantonese person is from the Guangzhou region, located in the southern regions of China. The word Cantonese is also used to describe the dialect (language) spoken in the Guangzhou and Hong Kong regions.
Ness Lee (she/they) is of Hakka descent. Hakka people are from the southern regions in China. Historically, the Hakka people originated from a few northern regions in China and eventually migrated to the south because they were fleeing war and poverty.
When someone identifies as “diasporic”, they are referring to their culture, family, history, and linguistic background as being removed from their original context.
Lan Florence Yee (they/he) artwork Selected Hauntings, Part 3
Please locate Lan Florence Yee’s (they/he) artwork series, Selected Hauntings. Locate the banner with the text: He yelled “go back to Chinatown” I finally belonged in Montreal. Pick one student to read the text out loud to the group.
Present: Chinatown
The expression ‘Chinatown’ is defined as ‘community living centres for Chinese Canadians. They were created because throughout history the Chinese Canadians were forbidden by the Canadian government to purchase land or other property investments.
Present: Artwork Description
In this artwork, the artist experienced someone yelling at them to go back to Chinatown. We can imagine a stranger walking down the street and harshly judging the artist by their outside appearances. It was a hurtful comment that was based on Anti-Asian racial stereotypes. Yee included the stranger’s quote to highlight their Anti-Asian racist experiences. Due to Anti-Asian racism and Anti-Asian immigration policies created by the Canadian government throughout history, it has left a scarring and discriminatory impact on how people view Chinese Canadian identities and history. One example of an anti-immigration policy created by the Canadian government was the formation of the Head Tax, where Chinese immigrants had to pay more money than European immigrants to enter Canada.
Yee responds with irony and humor by embroidering the text, “I finally belonged in Montreal.” But to what type of belonging does the artist sarcastically refer to. Not to a belonging of a warm acceptance, but to the belonging to a city which is characterized by notorious discrimination.
Please look at Lan Florence Yee's (they/he) artwork, Part 3 which includes the text: He yelled go back to Chinatown' I finally belonged in Montreal.
The following questions have been inspired or taken directly from the Critical Analysis Process chart from Visual Arts Curriculum expectations. http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf
Initial Reaction
How does this artwork make you feel?
What questions do you have about this work?
What connections can you make between this work and your own experiences or other art you have seen before in the past?
Description
What words would you use to describe the materials? (Is it delicate, strong and/or transparent?) Please, do not touch the artwork
What do you think the artist worked on the hardest? What part of the art do you think the artist worked on the longest?
What was the first thing that you noticed about the art?
Analysis and Interpretation
Why do you think someone would yell at the artist to go back to Chinatown? Do you think the quote is racially discriminatory? How so?
Look closely at the text (please, do not touch the artwork). Do you think the text is done by a machine or embroidered by hand (handsewn)?
Does the text look familiar? (Have you seen the font before on a computer program)?
Expression of an Informed Point of View
Have your initial reaction changed after spending more time with the art and analyzing the main message? Do you think this is a positive or negative sentence?
Do you think this is an important artwork about racial discrimination? Why?
Do you think this artwork is successful at addressing themes of racial discrimination? Why or why not?
Considerations of Cultural Context
Can you relate to any of the texts? Does the text make you think about your own experiences?
Do you think the sentence impacted the artist and their identity? How do you think so?
Where do Chinatowns exist and who lives there?
Looking at Please Help Yourself
Please locate Lan Florence Yee’s artwork, Please Help Yourself. It is the artwork with tangerine/orange Peels.
Present: Artwork Description
In the Cantonese tradition, tangerines/oranges are traditionally shared with guests in the home as a welcoming gift so that they feel like they belong. Guests and family members exchange conversations while eating these tangerines. The tangerine peels are what is leftover and discarded into the compost.
Lan Florence Yee (they/he) recreates the leftover tangerine peels out of glazed ceramic pieces so that they will last for a longer time, beyond organic matter. The peels are the leftovers from eating tangerines with the artist’s grandmother after their conversations about family, culture, and history.
The tangerines are a symbol to help remind the artist of sharing oranges with their diasporic family identity and having a sense of belonging in a home. The leftover tangerine peels from these gatherings are a symbolic representation of hospitality and invitation. Instead of throwing away the tangerine peels, Yee recreates the peels out of glazed ceramic pieces so that they will last and not be forgotten. The display of the tangerine peels in the gallery is an act of commemoration of hospitality, invitation and celebrating the ceremony of belonging in a diasporic community. Yee wants the peels to last and displays them in the form of a different type of monument.
Historically many monuments were created to recognize an individual (usually heterosexual and European male) and their life accomplishments. The individuals who are represented in monuments often include political figures for their acts of “leadership, heroism, and courage”. Some monuments were created after colonization, wars, or showing off an individual’s economic wealth. Yee as a queer artist creates an alternative approach to making a monument by focusing on cultural symbols that represent their Cantonese Chinese community. Yee challenges ideas surrounding historical meanings about monuments and commemorations.
Please look at Lan Florence Yee's (they/he) artwork, Please Help Yourself.
Lan Florence Yee, in collaboration with Arezu Salamzadeh, Please Help Yourself, 2019-ongoing (details)
The following questions have been inspired or taken directly from the Critical Analysis Process chart from Visual Arts Curriculum expectations. http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf
Initial Reaction
How do you feel when you first see the tangerine peels?
What do you sense when you first see the tangerine peels? What do you smell? Does it make you feel hungry?
Can you recall the last time you ate tangerines or oranges? Where were you? Who were you with? Or did you eat alone?
Description
What material do you think the tangerine peels are made out of? Is the texture soft or hard?
Does the colour match the colour of real tangerines?
How is the artwork displayed?
Analysis and Interpretation
What tools do you think the artist used to make the bumpy texture?
What do you think the artist and the grandmother talk about while eating tangerines?
Do you think the tangerine peels can represent a monument? What do you think the artist was commemorating?
Expression of an Informed Point of View
Why do you think the artist chose to display tangerine peels in the art gallery when it is something which is meant to be thrown away?
How do you think the artist feels when they are sharing tangerines with their grandmother?
Do you think this artwork is personal? Who do you think the art is for?
Considerations of Cultural Context
Do you think food is part of culture and identity? How so?
What interesting things did you learn about the artist and about Cantonese Culture?
Did you learn something new and surprising? Why or why not?
Historical Canadian Landscape Art
Please locate and show students a painting from the artist, Frederick H. Varley.
Discuss
Ask the following questions for a group discussion:
What are some geographic elements that you notice in the artwork? Do you see water, mountains, fields, and rocky shorelines?
Does the landscape feel inviting and peaceful, or large and isolated?
Why do you think there are no people in the painting? Do you think people could belong in this landscape? Why or why not?
Can a landscape painting truly represent “Canadian Identity” when there are no people in the painting?
Present: Historical Artist and Artwork description
Frederick H. Varley was born in England and immigrated to Canada. He was a member of the Group of Seven and he painted many Canadian landscapes. Members from the Group of Seven have historically shared the idea that the Canadian landscape was empty (the myth of the Terra nullius). The paintings show no presence of humans on the land. This further emphasized the idea that the land was uninhabited and “discovered” by early male European settlers when they arrived in Canada. This idea of an empty Canadian landscape completely ignored the existence of Indigenous communities who did live on the land. It was and is the home of many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities.
Lan Florence Yee(they/he) artwork, Finding Myself at the Museum
Please locate and show Lan Florence Yee’s(they/he) painting, Finding Myself in the Museum.
Present: Artwork Description
After Lan Florence Yee (they/he) visited various art galleries in Canada, they questioned the emphasis of "Canadian landscape art" and how art is used as a tool to define a national identity tied with mass consumerism. For decades art galleries and art institutions have sold many reproductions from a narrow perspective of “Canadian Art” and mainly European, male artists showcasing grand and empty landscapes with no presence of humans. You may have seen some reproduction prints of landscape paintings from the artist, Frederick H. Varley or other artworks from the Group of Seven in your school or library.
Yee (they/them) paints themselves in the landscapes to emphasize their human presence by being physically present within the Canadian landscape as well as in a Canadian art gallery. Many
communities such as the Chinese Canadian communities are left out of the important conversations on what defines Canadian national identity and what are their experiences living on the land in Canada. It’s as if the artist is searching for something, perhaps they are looking for their own identity within Canada?
Please look at Lan Florence Yee's (they/he) artwork, Finding Myself at the Museum
The following questions have been inspired or taken directly from the Critical Analysis Process chart from Visual Arts Curriculum expectations. http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf
Initial Reaction
Does the painting grab your attention? Does the painting feel inviting? Why or why not?
Do you recognize the landscape? Can you picture yourself in the landscape participating in your favourite outdoor activity?
If you were you have a conversation with the artist, what would you first ask the about the artwork?
Description
Where is the artwork hung?
In which direction is the artist looking? Is the artist looking at another painting or another direction in the art gallery?
Look closely at the painting and the brushstrokes (Please, do not touch the art) What type of brushstrokes do you notice? Are they short/long, which direction do the brushstrokes go? Are the brushstrokes thin or thick?
Analysis and Interpretation
What do you think the artist is looking for?
Why do you think the artist painted a landscape and frame onto their body?
Do you think the artist feels like they belong in an art gallery environment? Why or why not?
Expression of an Informed Point of View
Do you think the artist is searching for someone or something? Who and what do you think they are searching for?
Do you think it is important for the artist to be in a Canadian landscape? Why or why not?
In your opinion, do you think the artist likes to visit art galleries? How do you think they feel when they visit an art gallery?
Considerations of Cultural Context
Do you think all Canadian art galleries show art from artists from all ethnicities? Why have Chinese Canadian artist been excluded from art galleries throughout history?
Do you think anti-immigration policies from history have made an impact on the type of art display in Canadian art galleries?
Has the artwork made you look at art galleries with a new and different lens? Has the artwork helped you understand the history of art in art galleries? Why or why not?