Centre d'art daphne

Indigenous artists in Montreal spent roughly 25 years showing work wherever they could, including a run of guerrilla pop-ups in borrowed lofts through the '90s, before they had a centre of their own. daphne closed that gap in 2019, founded by four artists with established careers: Hannah Claus, Nadia Myre, Caroline Monnet and Skawennati, of Anishinaabe and Kanien'kehá:ka backgrounds.

The name honours Daphne Odjig, the Anishinaabe painter who opened her own Indigenous artist-run space in Winnipeg decades earlier. The Mile End gallery, just off Casgrain, mounts contemporary exhibitions by emerging, mid-career and established Indigenous artists, some selected through open calls and others invited outright, alongside residencies, talks, readings and beading nights.

Openings come furnished with couches, on the reasoning that people should be able to sit with the work and with each other, and the mandate explicitly extends that conversation to non-Indigenous audiences.