Why Count?
Exhibitions in our public art galleries matter. They matter to our collective sense of identity because they shape the stories we are able to tell about ourselves, now and in the future.
When these exhibitions don’t represent the diversity of this land, we are all poorer for it.
Worse, when we are told that what we are seeing is the best art but, in fact, it is the best art from a very specific small set of our population, this is damaging. It means that what we are being told is our collective history is actually an obfuscating mythology.
When we wander through a museum that shows mostly art by white men, and we are told it is the best our country has to offer, that is more than a story about art.
It is a story about dominance; and too often it has been a story art galleries, surely unintentionally, have been complicit in upholding. But when its pointed out to museums for literally decades that the stories they present are biased and damaging, one has to begin to question their refusal to change.
This website has been created because of the certainty that without hard data, it is difficult or impossible to know when the stories we tell ourselves are biased, inequitable, unjust and therefore damaging.
Most arts professionals want a more just and equitable world. Yet arts institutions have not been leaders in terms of inclusion, representation, justice, and supporting diversity.
This site advocates for a more equitable and inclusive arts community: it works from the premise that we cannot achieve that without accurate data that tracks what our galleries and museums actually do.
Counting representation isn’t enough. Significant shifts in practices stemming from an actively anti-racist, anti-sexist, and pro-justice position is what is needed. But to know the facts of who major institutions are representing is a necessary starting point for a more equitable art world.
Methodology:
The quantitative data presented on this site was collected from museum gallery websites and annual reports in the summer of 2021. It was checked at least twice, by 2 different people on different days. The data may change, if institutions change their websites. Please contact us if you find any errors.
We’ve looked at solo exhibitions of artists living at the time of the opening of the exhibition. We’ve done this for many reasons, including that contemporary art should more free of racial and gender inequity than historic art; that contemporary solo shows are important for artists’ reputations; and because it gives a representational snapshot of what galleries are doing; and because it facilitates comparison with my earlier work, as presented in my book Diversity Counts.
In terms of assessing gender, we’ve used the gender ascribed — most often by the museum itself. For the infrequent occasions when museums haven’t made genders clear, we’ve looked to other popular internet sources. However, it’s worth pointing out that the large galleries we’ve examined here are still showing very few artists who aren’t identified in binary male/female terms.
In terms of quantifying racialization, we also looked to gallery websites as well as simple internet searches. This category, however, is somewhat less clearly identified in language. Consequently, we’ve considered the marking of artists, ie whether they are identified by an ethnicity or identity either by the gallery texts themselves or by arts reporting or by the artist self-identifying. Most often white artists are not marked, so we have used the categories of unmarked/white and BIPOC/racialized.
For a fuller description of the method and the rationale, please see my book, Diversity Counts: Gender, Race, and Representation in Canadian Art Galleries (MQUP, 2019), available through the MQUP website or your local bookstore or through Amazon
Anne Dymond, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at the University of Lethbridge. This website grows out of her book Diversity Counts: Gender, Race and Representation in Canadian Art Galleries (MQUP 2019), which has been called “a persuasive plea for more equitable curating,” and a “path-breaking study and an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary art scene in Canada.”
Reviews of
Diversity Counts: Gender, Race and Representation in Canadian Art Galleries
MQUP, 2019
“Dymond gives artists and contemporary arts practitioners in Canada the numbers that allow us to assess what we have achieved and where we are failing, providing a baseline for the future. Her engagingly written and sympathetic account speaks to the gap between feminist theory and practice, offering compelling arguments for working to diversify the canon.” Diana Nemiroff, University of Ottawa and former curator at The National Gallery of Canada"This is a remarkable inquiry into curatorial programing and systemic biases in publicly funded art galleries and museums….This is a path-breaking study and an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary art scene in Canada." Allan Antliff, Professor, Art History and Visual Studies, University of Victoria, in RACAR
"Curators, as well as museum and gallery directors, would do well to read this book and reflect critically on their own acquisition, curatorial, and exhibition practices. Additionally, this book provides a good starting point for any scholars interested in studies of representation at the intersection of contemporary art exhibition practices. Diversity Counts is an urgent reminder that there is still much work to be done in achieving curatorial representation that reflects the richness and diversity of Canadian artists." Prakash Krishnan, Public
"In this thorough study, Dymond reveals that inequity is still common in Canada despite advances made in Canadian society [and] finds that museums in all locales have issues with showing women, minorities, and indigenous people. The book ends with a call to action for more diversity. Includes extensive notes and bibliography. Recommended." Choice