Sunday, August 17, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
The Garrick Theatre, Bonavista
Speakers: Bethany MacKenzie, Margaret Ryall, Don Kwan, Jenelle Duval
Moderator: Sue Balint
As we open the 5th edition of the Bonavista Biennale, an opportunity is provided to think through the past towards the future. What are some of the highlights we’ve experienced thus far? What has surprised us? What have we learned, and what potential does the future hold? This panel includes members of the Biennale’s broad network—from artists to advisors, collaborators and board members—who have helped shape the Biennale to date, and who can speculate on what possibilities may come.
Speaker bios:
Bethany MacKenzie (she/they) is an emerging artist and arts administrator currently based in eastern Ktaqmkuk on the unceded homelands of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq (presently known as Newfoundland). They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts (2021) from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and have been acting Director of Union House Arts (UHA) since the spring of 2022. On top of their personal practice and administrative work, she also sits on the board of ATLANTIS (The Association of Artist Run Centres in the Atlantic) as their treasurer (2022-25). MacKenzie was the recipient of the Newfoundland and Labrador BMO 1st Arts Award (2021) and was graciously awarded the VANL-CARFAC Mary MacDonald Award (2024). MacKenzie served as a Curatorial Advisor for the 2023 Bonavista Biennale, Host.
Margaret Ryall was a member of the Organizing Committee who initiated the first Bonavista Biennale in 2017. Since then, she has served on the Executive Committee of the organization as secretary and vice chair. Throughout her career as a teacher, administrator and school board coordinator, Margaret advocated for the visual arts through curriculum development and ensuring adequate funding for art programming. In 2001, she switched careers and as an artist her advocacy work continued as she served on the Executives of both VANL- CARFAC and CARFAC National. Margaret’s maternal family lived in Keels, and she currently shares her time between St. John’s and her seaside studio in Duntara, NL.
A third-generation Chinese Canadian, Don Kwan turns to his own experiences and challenges of being a gay, East Asian artist as a way to ground in broader conversations about identity, representations, and intergenerational memory-making in the diaspora. Kwan regularly draws from common and powerfully symbolic found objects and forms. He redeploys them in provocative, and playful ways; delivering complex, and nuanced concepts in an open framework for interpretation that evokes both familiarity and wonder. Kwan is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, his work is found in public and private collections across Canada but especially in Ottawa, where Kwan and his family have contributed richly to the vibrancy of the nation’s capital art scene for decades; he is the founder of Chinatown Remixed Art Festival. Kwan’s artwork was featured in the 2023 Bonavista Biennale, Host.
Jenelle Duval is a Mi’kmaw creator and curator from Seal Rocks, NL, who currently lives and works in St. John’s as an Advisor in media and content growth. Duval was the Artistic Director of Spirit Song Festival, an annual celebration of Indigenous Arts and Culture in St. John’s for nearly a decade. Jenelle is a founding member of EMCA-winning group Eastern Owl, and a tireless advocate for the preservation and revitalization of cultural arts and music. In her solo practice she writes and performs songs and stories that reflect her relationships and connections to people and places. Jenelle is rooted in her home territory of Ktaqmkuk, where she shares her life with her amazing daughter Kassidy. Duval served as a Curatorial Advisor for the 2023 Bonavista Biennale, Host, and is participating as an artist as a member of Eastern Owl in the 2025 Bonavista Biennale, String Games.
Moderator bio:
Sue Balint (she / her) is Executive Director of the Bonavista Biennale and also maintains an independent practice of producing and curating for live art festivals. She was festival producer of Buddies in Bad Times’ Rhubarb Festival in 2023 and for the past two seasons has been part of the producing team at Luminato. She recently completed editing a collection of essays for Canadian Theatre Review focused on land-based and site-specific performance practice.