Wanda Nanibush

Last updated
Wanda Nanibush
Born1976 (age 47–48)
Nationality Beausoleil First Nation, Canadian
EducationUniversity of Toronto
Known forIndigenous curation
Website ago.ca/people/wanda-nanibush

Wanda Nanibush (born 1976) is an Anishinaabe curator, artist and educator based in Toronto, Ontario. From 2016 to 2023, she held the position of the inaugural curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Contents

Nanibush won the 2023 Toronto Book Award for the book Moving the Museum, written in collaboration with her fellow Art Gallery of Ontario curator Georgiana Uhlyarik [1] and was a jurist for the 2023 Sobey Art Award. [2]

Career

Nanibush is a member of the Beausoleil First Nation. [3] She obtained an MA in visual studies from the University of Toronto. [3] [4] She has also served as Curator in Residence at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery. [5]

Nanibush has a long-standing relationship with Anishinaabe multimedia artist Rebecca Belmore and has curated a series of shows featuring her work including KWE: Photography, Sculpture, Video and Performance by Rebecca Belmore (2014) at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, and Rebecca Belmore:Facing the Monumental (2018) a survey of Belmore's 30 year career at the Art Gallery of Ontario. [6] [7]

Nanibush has been an active community organizer participating in demonstrations against the Iraq War and uranium processing, and raising awareness about the relationship between racism and lack of education. She has also worked as an organizer for Idle No More Toronto talks and teach-ins to help with education efforts. [8]

Nanibush began work at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2016 as an assistant curator of Canadian and Indigenous Art in the department of Canadian art. Her first curatorial project at the AGO was Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971–1989, for which she included Anishinaabemowin land acknowledgment text alongside English and French as a way of marking Toronto as traditional Indigenous territory. [9] The exhibition was a collections exhibition that turned over after four months including over 120 artists. It had a film festival and performance art series as part of the programming. [10]

In 2017, Nanibush and Georgiana Uhlyarik renamed the department of Canadian Art, the department of Indigenous and Canadian Art, and developed a new nation to nation model of sharing power. [11] As part of the role, Nanibush created a new Indigenous Curator position and co heads the department with Georgiana Uhlyarik, the curator of Canadian Art. Together they have made a series of changes to the exhibition of Indigenous and Canadian art, including renaming the 1929 Emily Carr painting from The Indian Church to Church in Yuquot Village, 73 years after Carr's death, and centering Indigenous art in the renamed McLean Centre for Indigenous and Canadian Art. The centre has texts in Anishinabemowin, Inuktitute and other First Nations languages alongside English and French. [12] [13]

Since becoming the curator of Indigenous Art, Nanibush's influence has led to Indigenous artists representing nearly one third of those featured at the AGO. In a 2018 profile about the changes underway at the Gallery and other institutions featuring Indigenous art, the New York Times noted Nanibush as "one of the most powerful voices for Indigenous culture in the North American art world." [12]

Nanibush parted ways with the AGO in late November 2023. [14] Her departure was cast as a "mutual decision" by the Art Gallery of Ontario; [15] [16] however, her exit came after the Israel Museum and Arts, Canada (IMAAC) sent a complaint to the AGO in mid-October 2023. [17] Nanibush has been publicly vocal in her "support of the Palestinian cause, linking the experiences of Indigenous peoples living in Canada to those of Palestinians", [18] a stance which drew intense criticism from various pro-Israel interest groups, including internal stakeholders at the AGO and the IMAAC. [19] IMAAC's letter alleges that Nanibush's vocal criticism of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory is "inflammatory" and "inaccurate" while UN expert has equated Israel policies to settler colonialism. [20]

Nanibush's departure has raised criticism of culture of censorship in the Canadian art world. [21] Notable figures in the Canadian and international arts sector have expressed their support and solidarity with Nanibush including Lucy Bell, Haida curator and professor who led the Indigenous collection and repatriation department at the Royal British Columbia Museum before resigning due to systemic racism and bullying, [22] artist Dr. Jamelie Hassan, winner of the 2001 Governor General's Award in Visual Arts, and Candice Hopkins, Tlingit curator, artist and Executive Director of the Native-led Forge Project in Taghkanic, New York. [23] On November 28, 2023, an open letter signed by over 50 Canadian and international Indigenous cultural leaders, including Shelley Niro, Greg A. Hill, Raymond Boisjoly, Andrea Carlson and Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill, condemned the AGO's "decision to erase Nanibush’s institutional presence" and censured the AGO and other Canadian art institutions' for the "harms inflicted upon our community members working in these institutions" through "regular systemic discrimination, racism and subsequent stress-related obstacles". [24] The letter called for the AGO to "review and revise the inner workings and cultures of their institutions and to genuinely support and commit to practiced policies of decolonization and Indigenization". The same day, 44 recipients of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts published a shared statement to "express our alarm and disapproval of the forced departure of Wanda Nanibush" and that "the forced departure of Wanda Nanibush is an act of political censorship" that "severely damages the reputation and credibility of the AGO and sets a dangerous precedent in Canadian art that demands protest". [25] An open letter, signed by over 3500 artists, curators and cultural workers, including artist and professor Deanna Bowen and the curator and professor Gabrielle Moser, called for a boycott of the AGO in response to Nanibush's departure. [26]

On November 30, 2023, the AGO's Director Stephan Jost released a public statement in response to the backlash and public calls for accountability, stating he is "taking this seriously and I know there will need to be a rebuilding of trust. I recognize there is much work to be done with open, honest, and brave conversations" and the institution will "deeply review and reflect on our commitments to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report". [27] An anonymously-led group, AGO, NO, continues to document the ongoing controversy. [28]

As of January 2024, Nanibush has not publicly commented on her departure, citing the terms of her leave. [29]

Other activities

In 2024, Nanibush was part of the jury that selected Rosana Paulino as recipient of the inaugural Munch Award. [30]

Curated exhibitions

Publications

Awards and honours

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Belmore</span> Canadian Anishinaabekwe artist (born 1960)

Rebecca Belmore is a Canadian interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist who is notable for politically conscious and socially aware performance and installation work. She is Ojibwe and a member of Obishikokaang. Belmore currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ruben Piqtoukun</span> Canadian artist (born 1950)

David Ruben Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ is an Inuvialuk (Inuit) artist from Paulatuk, Northwest Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Houle</span>

Robert Houle is a Saulteaux First Nations Canadian artist, curator, critic, and educator. Houle has had an active curatorial and artistic practice since the mid-1970s. He played an important role in bridging the gap between contemporary First Nations artists and the broader Canadian art scene through his writing and involvement in early important high-profile exhibitions such as Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada. As an artist, Houle has shown both nationally and internationally. He is predominantly a painter working in the tradition of Abstraction, yet he has also embraced a pop sensibility by incorporating everyday images and text into his works. His work addresses lingering aspects of colonialism and their effects on First Nation peoples. Houle often appropriates historical photographs and texts, repurposing and combining them with Anishnaabe language and traditionally used materials such as porcupine quills within his works.

Kathleen Jean Munn is recognized today as a pioneer of modern art in Canada, though she remained on the periphery of the Canadian art scene during her lifetime. She imagined conventional subjects in a radically new visual vocabulary as she combined the traditions of European art with modern art studies in New York. She stopped painting about 1939 and when she died in 1974 at age 87, she was unaware that her long-held hope for "a possible future for my work" was about to become reality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald McMaster</span>

Gerald Raymond McMaster is a curator, artist, and author and a Plains Cree member of the Siksika Nation. McMaster is a professor at OCAD University and is the adjunct curator at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Astman</span> Canadian artist (born 1950)

Barbara Anne Astman is a Canadian artist who has recruited instant camera technology, colour xerography, and digital scanners to explore her inner thoughts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christiane Pflug</span>

Christiane Pflug was a German-born Canadian painter and draughtswoman. In her career, she painted landscapes, interiors and still lifes, accompanied by the occasional portrait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzy Lake</span>

Suzy Lake is an American-Canadian artist based in Toronto, Canada, who is known for her work as a photographer, performance artist and video producer. Using a range of media, Lake explores topics including identity, beauty, gender and aging. She is regarded as a pioneering feminist artist and a staunch political activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Letendre</span> Canadian artist (1928–2021)

Rita Letendre, LL. D. was a Canadian painter, muralist, and printmaker associated with Les Automatistes and the Plasticiens. She was an Officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Governor General's Award.

Daina Augaitis is a Canadian curator whose work focuses on contemporary art. From 1996 to 2017, she was the chief curator and associate director of the Vancouver Art Gallery in British Columbia.

The Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Awards, the Award for Outstanding Achievement as an Artist and the Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art are two annual arts awards of $25,000 and $10,000 that recognize mid-career Canadian visual artists and curators. The Hnatyshyn Foundation is a private charity established by Ray Hnatyshyn, Canada’s 24th Governor General.

Barry Ace is a First Nations sculptor, installation artist, photographer, multimedia artist, and curator from Sudbury, Ontario, who lives in Ottawa. He is Odawa, an Anishinaabe people, and belongs to the M'Chigeeng First Nation.

Georgiana Uhlyarik-Nicolae, also known as Georgiana Uhlyarik is a Romanian-born Canadian art curator, art historian, and teacher. She is currently the Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). She has been part of the team or led teams that created numerous exhibitions, on subjects such as Betty Goodwin, Michael Snow, and Kathleen Munn among others and collaborated with art organizations such as the Tate Modern, and the Jewish Museum, New York.

Ron Benner is a Canadian artist who investigates the history and political economics of food cultures. He is also a gardener and writer who currently lives and works in London, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrance Houle</span> Canadian artist of Native American descent

Terrance James Houle is an Internationally recognized Canadian interdisciplinary artist and member of the Kainai Nation and ancestry from the Sandy Bay Reservation, Manitoba. His Mother is Maxine WeaselFat from the Kainai Nation and Father Donald Vernon Houle from Sandy Bay Reservation in Manitoba, they are both 3rd generation Residential School attendees & reside on the Blood reservation in Southern Alberta, Canada. His work ranges from subversive to humorous absurdity to solemn and poetic artistic expressions. His work often relates to the physical body as it investigates issues of history, colonization, Aboriginal identity and representation in popular culture, as well as conceptual ideas based on memory, home, and reserve communities. Currently, He has co-directed a Short Animation Otanimm/Onnimm with his daughter Neko which is currently touring Film festivals, In Los Angeles, NYC, Toronto, New Zealand, Vancouver, Oxford & many more. Recently their short film won the prestigious Golden Sheaf Indigenous Award at Yorkton Film Festival and is Neko's First Award in Film at 17 years old.

Michael Belmore is a Canadian sculptor of Anishinaabe descent who works primarily in resistant stone, copper and other metals. His works are in public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, National Museum of the American Indian – Smithsonian Museum, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, and he has held exhibitions in both nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Liliefeldt</span> South African-Canadian artist

Louise Liliefeldt is a Canadian artist primarily working in performance and painting. She was born in South Africa and currently lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Liliefeldt’s artistic practice draws directly from her lived experience and is apparent in the use of symbol, colour and material in her work. Other influences include Italian, Latin and Eastern European horror films, surrealism and African cinema. Taken as a whole, Liliefeldt’s work is an embodied investigation of the culture and politics of identity, as influenced by collective issues such as gender, race and class. Her performance work has developed through many prolific and specific periods.

Carol Podedworny is a Canadian museum director and curator who advocated for the inclusion of contemporary Indigenous art and for Indigenous voices in Canadian museums in a career spanning over 40 years. Besides post-contact First Nations art, she is interested in contemporary Canadian art, and a diverse range of art history and art, including its material practice. She is the author or co-author of many books, catalogues and essays which investigate these subjects, as well as issues of medical inquiry.

Barbara Fischer is an art curator and writer who specializes in contemporary art in all media with an emphasis on sculpture, installation, and projection/lens-based work. The Toronto Star called her the "unassuming nuclear reactor of the Toronto arts scene", adding that she is "doing seemingly impossible work that, at the same time, is both vital and otherwise neglected: building a memory bank of artistic expression in a city plagued with willful amnesia."

Jessica Bradley has served as a curator for Contemporary art at the National Gallery of Canada (1979-1987) and the Art Gallery of Ontario, organizing many exhibitions in a broad range of Canadian and international art. She was known as a tastemaker in her institutional roles and later, as a gallerist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cassandra Drudi, "Wanda Nanibush and Georgiana Uhlyarik win 2023 Toronto Book Award". Quill & Quire , October 11, 2023.
  2. ↑ "2023 Sobey Art Award Short List Unveiled". gallerieswest. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 Whyte, Murray (22 July 2016). "Wanda Nanibush named AGO's first curator of indigenous art". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  4. ↑ McRae, Aiden (26 July 2016). "The AGO's 1st curator of Canadian and Indigenous art hopes to inspire renewed relationships". CBC. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  5. ↑ "Wanda Nanibush". Ontario Association of Art Galleries. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake (11 July 2018). "I Am the Artist Amongst My People". Canadian Art. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  7. ↑ Carter, Sue (13 August 2018). "AGO curator Wanda Nanibush on editing the art book, Rebecca Belmore: Facing the Monumental". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  8. ↑ Donkin, Karissa (12 January 2013). "Idle No More activist inspired by late mother". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  9. ↑ Skwarna, Naomi (2017). "Who Gets Called an Artist?". University of Toronto Magazine (Winter). Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  10. ↑ "Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971-1989". Art Gallery of Ontario. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  11. ↑ Doherty, Brennan (3 October 2017). "AGO adds curators, renames Canadian art department to explicitly include Indigenous works". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  12. 1 2 Loos, Ted (13 July 2018). "A Canadian Museum Promotes Indigenous Art. But Don't Call It 'Indian.'" . Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  13. ↑ "Moving the Museum". Goose Lane Editions. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  14. ↑ "Jacquie Matechuk named Nature Photographer of the Year Wanda Nanibush leaves AGO amid Israel-Palestine controversy". gallerieswest. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  15. ↑ Ho, Karen K. "Art Gallery of Ontario, Prompting Questions". ARTnews. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  16. ↑ O’Kane, Josh. "Indigenous curator's departure from AGO underscores tensions over Israel-Hamas war at art institutions". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  17. ↑ Pontone, Maya (21 November 2023). "Questions Arise as Indigenous Curator Suddenly Departs Toronto Museum". Hyperallergic . Archived from the original on 22 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  18. ↑ "INDIGENOUS ART CURATOR WANDA NANIBUSH DEPARTS ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO". ARTFORUM. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  19. ↑ Pontone, Maya. "Questions Arise as Indigenous Curator Suddenly Departs Toronto Museum". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  20. ↑ "Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, tantamount to 'settler-colonialism': UN expert". UN News. 27 October 2022. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  21. ↑ "Indigenous arts leaders sign open letter in support of Wanda Nanibush after departure from AGO". The Globe and Mail. 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
  22. ↑ Chan, Adam. "'Culture of fear and distrust': Royal BC Museum apologizes after investigation confirms workplace racism". CTV News Vancouver Island. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  23. ↑ Pontone, Maya. "Questions Arise as Indigenous Curator Suddenly Departs Toronto Museum". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  24. ↑ "Statement of Concern from Members of the International Indigenous Arts Community to Institutions Worldwide". Indiginations. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "44 Governor General Award Winners Protest Forced Departure of Wanda Nanibush from AGO" (PDF). Embassy Cultural House. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  26. ↑ "Open Letter to the Art Gallery of Ontario" . Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  27. ↑ Jost, Stephan. "AN OPEN LETTER FROM STEPHAN JOST, DIRECTOR, AND CEO". Art Gallery of Ontario. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  28. ↑ "AGO, NO". AGO, NO. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  29. ↑ Puzic, Sonja. "AGO to review policies amid criticism over Indigenous curator's split from gallery". CBC. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  30. ↑ George Nelson (24 October 2024), Rosana Paulino Wins Munch Museum’s Inaugural $25,000 Award Celebrating Artistic Freedom ARTnews .
  31. ↑ "Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful | Indigo". www.indigo.ca. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  32. ↑ "Rebecca Belmore". Goose Lane Editions. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.