Never Was Average & MMFA host a talk about racism in the art world

Never Was Average, the local organization behind the Black Lives Matter street mural that was painted in the Village this week, is co-hosting an online talk with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) about racism and being Black in the art world on Sunday, July 19 at 1:30 p.m. The opening statements will be in French and the conversation will be bilingual.

According to Never Was Average co-founder Harry Julmice, this free, two-hour Zoom event is “a conversation about navigating the art world as a Black person. It addresses the microaggressions and racial inequalities that most Black people have to go through in that space, and also the impact of unconscious bias on Black artists.

Never Was Average Black art — Never Was Average x Museum of Fine Arts

“We can host up to 200 people on Zoom so everybody is invited to come and just learn,” he adds. “You can just listen, you can share — it’s very interactive. Everything that we do, we always make sure to do it on a positive note. People don’t have to be intimidated. Even if it gets uncomfortable, it’ll be uncomfortable in a positive way.”

This is the second in a series of three talks about Black art and racism presented by the MMFA and produced and moderated by Never Was Average, titled le Sisterhood au MBAM. The final event is happening on Sept. 12. ■

RSVP for the event here.

See drone footage of the Montreal Black Lives Matter street mural here.

For more Montreal arts coverage, see our Arts section.