“Uncles” was a performative text that shared a personal narration in response to a call for proposals to engage with materials that were absent from AKA Gallery’s archive. These materials documented the expulsion of a queer artist named Christopher Lefler from an exhibition mounted by the University of Saskatchewan in 1993, and the ensuing scandal. Lefler’s contribution is lost, although its creation and expulsion is documented; the curator Lucas Regazzi invited artists to propose possible ways of re-invigorating discussion around the missing work.

I installed and read a text in the gallery space that documented my questions and concerns about the invitation, recalling details about my own journey coming into my queer identity as shaped by the lives of my gay uncles. It was a reflection on queer history, the mutation of political values over time, and the challenge to relate to, understand, and share stories of generational trauma without continuing cycles of violence.