Feature: To Be Seen, To Be Heard

Last updated on
Wednesday, August 21st, 2024
Experience type: 
In-Person
Program Description

How have Indigenous people used public events to claim agency over their representation during times of colonial oppression? How do our experiences, knowledge, and identities shape the way we interpret archival photographs?

In this program, students will visit To Be Seen, To Be Heard: First Nations in Public Spaces, 1900–1965, MOA’s feature exhibition exploring how First Nations people represented themselves as Indigenous in urban public spaces during the period of the potlatch prohibition and other forms of erasure in Canada. After visiting this multimedia exhibition, students will visit a selection of works in MOA’s core galleries to expand on the ideas of To Be Seen, To Be Heard. Finally, students will participate in a reflective art making activity using mixed media self-portraiture to explore themes of representation, agency, and futurity. 

To book this program, please submit a booking request.

Big Ideas
  • Artists experiment in a variety of ways to discover new possibilities.
  • Creative expression is a means to explore and share one’s identity within a community.
  • Dance, drama, music, and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating.
  • Interactions between First Peoples and Europeans lead to conflict and cooperation, which continues to shape Canada’s identity.
  • Changing ideas about the world created tension between people wanting to adopt new ideas and those wanting to preserve established traditions.
  • Contacts and conflicts between peoples stimulated significant cultural, social, political change.
  • Exploration, expansion, and colonization had varying consequences for different groups.
  • Trip Details
    City: 
    For Grades: 
    9, 10, 11, 12
    Days Offered: 
    Times Offered: 
    Duration: 
    90 minutes unless otherwise stated.
    Maximum Students: 
    Offered In French: 
    No
    Also Offered For: 
    Other
    Packages Provided: 
    Pre-Visit Information Package
    Fee Details
    Cost Per Student: 
    $8.00
    Fee Notes: 
    • Program fee: School programs have a flat rate of $105/program (max. 30 students).
    • Museum admission: Groups of 10 or more students (K–12) receive a discounted admission rate of $8/student (free for Indigenous students). Supervising adults and teachers receive free admission with their group.
    • Cancellation fees: $50/program will be charged if a cancellation notice is received less than two weeks prior to your scheduled program.