CV

Education

2016 MFA, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2013 BFA with Minor in Anishinaabemowin, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Solo Exhibitions

2019-20 Sugarbush Shrapnel, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC (2019); Campbell River Art Gallery (2020)
2018 Passages, curated by Tania Willard, Gallery 44, Toronto, ON
2018 gaa-waategamaag, Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Kelowna, BC
2017 tibewh, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2013 weweni bimosedaa omaa, 180 Projects, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Two Person Exhibitions

2020 Re/search Re/surgence, Guadalupe Martinez and Olivia Whetung, curated by Denise Ryner, Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2016 New Ways of Having, Lis Rhodes and Olivia Whetung, curated by Pablo de Ocampo, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2016 if this was a draft would you dodge it? Jeneen Frei Njootli and Olivia Whetung, Axe Néo 7, Gatineau, QC

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021 A Thread That Never Breaks, curated by Lisa Myers and Sage Paul in association with Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, AbTec Gallery, a digital gallery on AbTec Island within Second Life
2019-24 Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts, composed by Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON (2019); Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (2019); Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener-Waterloo, ON (2020); Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC (2020); Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, BC (2021); continuing to tour until 2024
2019 What is here has echoed, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
2018-20 Art for a New Understanding, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (2018-19); Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM (2019); Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC (2019-2020)
2018-19 Beads, they’re sewn so tight, curated by Lisa Myers, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, ON (2018); Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, ON (2019)
2018 niigaanikwewag, curated by Rhéanne Chartrand, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
2017-18 Always Vessels, curated by Alexandra Nahwegahbow, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON (2017); Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catherine’s, ON (2018)
2016 Tongues, Echoes, curated by Areum Kim, Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2016 slip the snare, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2016 thirstDays #2, curated by Ashok Mathur and Jeneen Frei Njootli, VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, BC
2016 OGEMA: I AM WOMAN, curated by Léa Toulouse, Winsor Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2015 dagwinuu, AHVA Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2014 Concrete Scores, curated by Peter Morin and Doug Jarvis, Open Space, Victoria, BC
2013 HYDRA, Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, ON
2013 polyglot, 180 Projects, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Grants and Awards

2020-23 Creating, Knowing and Sharing Long-Term Projects Grant, Canada Council for the Arts
2020 Ontario Arts Council Indigenous Emerging Artist Award, Ontario Arts Council
2019 Joseph S. Stauffer Prize, Canada Council for the Arts
2018 John Hartman Award, MacLaren Art Centre
2018 Creating, Knowing and Sharing Short-Term Projects Grant, Canada Council for the Arts
2017 Aboriginal Traditional Visual Arts Grant, Canada Council for the Arts
2016 William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists
2015-16 Aboriginal Graduate Fellowship, University of British Columbia
2015-16 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council: Joseph Armand Bombardier CGS-M, University of British Columbia
2014-15 Special UBC Graduate Scholarship - Aboriginal Graduate Foundation Bridge Funding
2014-15 Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, University of British Columbia

Collections

2021 Indigenous Art Centre Collection, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
2020 Thunder Bay Art Gallery
2018 Global Affairs Canada

Residencies

2018 GroundWorks artist residency, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC
2016 O k’inādās: complicated reconciliations / an artist residency, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC

Workshops

2018 Facilitation of community beading table, Manidoominensagemin Toronto [we are beading in Toronto], Beading symposium, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, ON
2017 Beading Workshop, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2016 Beading Workshop, Enterprising Women Making Art, Vancouver, BC
2015 Beading Workshop, For a New Accessibility, Gallery Gachet, Vancouver, BC

Reviews and Articles

2020 Joni Low, “Resonant Signals”, Canadian Art, Spring 2020
2019 Beads, they’re sewn so tight, (catalogue), Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, ON
2018 Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now, Exhibition Catalogue, University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, AR
2018 “Passages” by Tania Willard, Gallery 44, Toronto, ON
2017 Shannon Webb-Campbell, “Reclaiming Indigenous Territories, Bead by Bead”, Canadian Art, (Web) June 27, 2017
2017 Lisa Myers, “Water is Land, Land is Also Water”, C Magazine, Summer 2017. 
2016 T’ai Smith, “The Problem with Craft”, Art Journal, Spring 2016. 80-84.
2016 Slip the Snare (catalogue), Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2013 HYDRA (catalogue), Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Artist Talks, Presentations, and Texts

2020 Panelist, “In Conversation with Author Robin Wall Kimmerer & Artist Olivia Whetung”, Zoom panel hosted by Campbell River Art Gallery, Campbell River, BC
2020 Artist talk, in association with “Re/search Re/surgence” Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2019 Panelist, “Olivia Whetung in Conversation with Clifford Atleo and Nicole Preissl”, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, BC
2018 Panelist, “Artist Talks: Beads, they’re sewn so tight”, Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, ON
2018 Text, “Fugitive Dust”, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2018 Panelist, “Artist Talk: Resonant Presence and Refusals”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2017 Panelist, “Always Vessels: Convo w/ Ace, Phillips, Smoke Santiago, Whetung”, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2017 Panelist, “Maawanji`idiwag - They Come Together”, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2016 “De-naturalizing Translation: Proposed Strategies for Orthographic Resistance”, Conference of the Universities Art Association of Canada, Montréal, QC
2016 “O k’inādās panel discussion”, O k’inādās: complicated reconciliations / an artist residency, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC
2016 “[un]sanctioned: the recognizability of native presence in the contemporary Art gallery”, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Annual Meeting 2016, Honolulu, HI
2016 “Intertextual: Jeneen Frei Njootli and Olivia Whetung reading selections at Western Front”, part of the series Intertextual: Art in Dialogue, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2016 “Panel Session: Decolonial Futures I”, co-presenting with Madeline Whetung, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 2016, San Francisco, CA
2015 “izhichigeyaang: Performative Research and Anishnaabeg Resurgence”, co-presenting with Madeline Whetung, Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 2015, Chicago, IL
2014 “e yaayaaN: where I am located—aaniish e kidayin: how do you say it? a conversation with artist Olivia Whetung”, Aboriginal Gathering Place, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC