About 3 — Olivia Whetung

CV

Education

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

Solo Exhibitions

2024-6 | inawendiwok, curated by Mona Filip,
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON (2024);
Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, ON (2025-6)
2024 | ROOT, HOG, OR DIE, CCAP, Winnipeg, MB
2019-22 | Sugarbush Shrapnel,
Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC (2019);
Campbell River Art Gallery (2020);
OPTICA, centre d’art contemporain, Montreal, QC (2022)
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

2024 | Pasapkejiwanong, Mary Anne Barkhouse and Olivia Whetung, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts & Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Ottawa, ON
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

2025 | UpFRONT Festival Exhibition, curated by Sierra da Silva-Canadien, Meridian Arts Centre, Toronto, ON
2024 | Watershed, curated by Fynn Leitch, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Peterborough, ON
2022-25 | Radical Stitch, curated by Sherry Farrell Racette, Michelle Lavallee, and Cathy Mattes,
MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK (2022);
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON (2023);
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, ON (2023-24);
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON (2024);
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB (2025)
2022‍‍ | Land Back: 6th Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA), curated by Mike Patten,
Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Montreal, QC;
Expression — Centre d’exposition de Saint Hyacinthe, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC
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,
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 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);
The Rooms, St. John’s, NL (2022);
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO (2022);
516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM (2025)
2019‍ | What is here has echoed, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
2018-20‍ | Art for a New Understanding, curated by Mindy N. Besaw, Candice Hopkins, and Manuela Well-Off-Man,
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

2025 | Outstanding Achievement Mid-Career Artist, Peterborough Arts Awards
2024-26 | Creating, Knowing and Sharing Long-Term Projects Grant, Canada Council for the Arts
2022-23 | Visual Arts Projects Grant, Ontario Arts Council
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

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

2025 | 2-part Beginner Peyote Workshop, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, ON
2024 | Beginner Peyote Workshop, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Peterborough, ON
2024 | Beading workshop, CCAP, Winnipeg, MB
2024 | Peyote stitch in the round, online workshop hosted by Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
2024 | Flat peyote stitch, online workshop hosted by Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
2020 | AGO X RBC Emerging Artists Workshop: Olivia Whetung, online beading workshop hosted by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
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

2022 | “Sugarbush Shrapnel”, artist talk, OPTICA Gallery, Montreal, QC
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