ABOUT

Chris Giles photo.

WhiteFeather is a multiple award-winning Canadian artist and scholar working in a research, craft and performance-based transdisciplinary practice. She specializes in biomaterials research, used predominantly to develop new critical discourse.

WhiteFeather has been professionally engaged in a craft-based (bio)art practice for over 18 years, via an ongoing material investigation of the functional, aesthetic and technological potential of bodily materials. Her works coalesce various media approaches, such as textile methods, biology, storytelling (video, audio and text), performance, public intervention, digital + web-based installations and DIY electronics.

WhiteFeather's work has ranged widely, from the utilization of human hair in textile construction, to rogue taxidermy soft sculptures of found flesh and bone, to digital/ pop culture representations of the body absent in the digital world. Recent work, spanning the last six years, is on biomaterials (biotextile) experimentation through the creation of new vital materials via hands-on tissue engineering, and other microbiological processes for textile applications. Hacking the laboratory and negotiating institutional bureaucracy is also part of the materiality of her work.

WhiteFeather is a multiple-award winner and grant recipient, holding an Master of Fine Arts in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University. She is currently a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow, Australian Government International RTP Scholar and UWA Postgraduate Scholar, situated between the School of Human Sciences and School of Design at The University of Western Australia. She has collaborated and worked in numerous international laboratory-based artist research residencies and served for over two years as the Principal Investigator and Technician of the Speculative Life BioLab at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University. She has lectured, shown and performed work internationally and has been featured in multiple international magazines, journals, art books, blogs, video and television spotlights.

CV en bref       *Download the full CV (PDF) here.

Selected Education 

2019- PhD candidate in Biological Art, The University of Western Australia

2016  MFA Fibres and Material Practices, Concordia University, Montreal

2008  Certificate in Adult Education, University of New Brunswick

2006  Bachelor of Applied Arts, University of New Brunswick

2001  Diploma in Fine Craft, New Brunswick College of Craft and Design

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Selected Residencies (last 5 years): CA, US, IS, FI, DK, DE, AU, FR, UK

2022  Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, Cornwall, UK

2019  Useful Fictions Symposium (Lab 5), École Polytechnique, Paris, FR,

          supported by a Graduate Fellowship through UC Davis, US

2015-19  Pelling Lab for Biophysical Manipulation (collaborator Daniel

          Modulevsky), University of Ottawa, ON, CA

2018  Ars Bioarctica/ Finnish Bioart Society, Kilpisjärvi Biological Research

          Station, Faculty of Biosciences at Helsinki University, FI

2018  Saint Mary's University Halifax/ IOTA Institute, hosted by Dr Linda 

          Campbell, Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Science, CA

2017-18  Sporobole centre en art actuel/ Université de Sherbrooke, QC, CA 

          with collaborator Dr Denis Groleau, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in

          Microorganisms and Industrial Processes

2017  Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, hosted by Tahani Nadim, Bureau for

          Troubles, with funding support from Hexagram and Milieux Institute

2016  Textílsetur Íslands (Icelandic Textile Centre), Blönduós, IS

2015  Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture, Dawson City, YT, CA

Selected Professional Grants (last 5 years): CA, US

2020  Museum of Witchcraft and Magic Travel Bursary

2015-18 Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec Travel grant, visual arts

          (5x recipient)

2018  Ammerman Center Independent Scholar Fellowship, Ammerman

          Center for Arts and Technology and the Center for the Critical Study of

          Race and Ethnicity at Connecticut College, US

          Textile Society of America Full Conference Fee Waiver Scholarship

          VSC grant and VSC work exchange, Vermont Studio Center, US (not

          used)

2017  Canada Council for the Arts Arts Abroad grant

          Collaborator: Independent Research Grant, Textiles and Materiality

          Research Cluster, Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at

          Concordia University

2016  Canada Council for the Arts International Residencies Grant

          Canada Council for the Arts Travel grants to Visual Artists

Selected Exhibitions (last five years)

2021  Culture of Contamination (Tarah Rhoda, curator), SciArt Initiative/ New 

          York Hall of Science, NY, US - cancelled due to COVID-19

2019  AT THE MARGINS—Experimental Engagements in Science, Literature

          and the Arts (SLSA) (Jesse Colin Jackson and Antoinette LaFarge,

          curators), Viewpoint Gallery, UC Irvine, California, US

          Speed of Light/ Useful Fictions (David Familian, curator), Galerie HUS,

          Montmarte, Paris, FR

          Black Box Pop-Up Cinema, Institute of Genetic Medicine at Newcastle

          University in partnership with the Cultural Negotiation of Science at

          Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

          Printemps Numérique X McCord After Hours, McCord Museum,

          Montreal, CA

2018  Salivam (solo), Sporobole centre en art actuel, Sherbrooke, CA

         This Mess We’re In (Tarsh Bates, curator), Unhallowed Arts Festival,   

          Old Customs House, Fremantle, AU

         Taking Care (Anna Kerekes, curator), Ars Electronica Festival 2018,

          POSTCITY, Linz, AT

          blóm + blóð screening at The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan

          Global, The Textile Society of America’s 16th Biennial Symposium,      

          Vancouver, CA

          blóm + blóð screening at ODD Gallery as part of the 19th Dawson

          City International Short Film Festival, Dawson City, CA

          Prospective Futures: The Aurelia Project, STEMFest 2018 showcase, 

          Halifax Convention Centre, CA

2017  Cultivars (Zach Pearl, curator) with Elizabeth Picard and Stefan

          Herda, InterAccess Gallery/ Subtle Technologies Festival v20 banner

          exhibition, Toronto, CA

          Fermenting Feminism (Lauren Fornier, curator) in partnership with the

          Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology: Broken Dimanche Press/ Büro

          BDP, Berlin, DE; Front/Space, Kansas City, US; Institute For Gender,

          Sexuality and Feminist Studies of McGill University as part of

          Leavening The Conversation: Food, Fermentation and Feminism

          conference, Montreal, CA

          Elusive Life: Extinction, Biodiversity, and Datafication group

          presentation with Orit Halpern, Chris Salter et al, Haus der Kulturen

          der Welt (HKW), transmediale Festival for Art and Digital Culture

          Berlin, DE

         The Body Electric (juried) | Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons

          of Canada International Conference on Resident Education (ICRE),

          Québec City, CA; Associated Medical Services (AMS Healthcare)

          Phoenix 2017 Invitational Conference, St. James Cathedral Centre,

          Toronto, CA

          Hexagram Member Showcase, Marché international de l’art

          numérique (MIAN) 2017, Hexagram-UQAM, Montreal, CA

          Bucci with Théo Chauvirey (juried), Fashion POP, POP Montreal/ The

          Fine Print Magazine, Rialto Theatre, Montreal, CA

          L'art est vivant? (Anne-Marie Belley, curator), Centre d'exposition de

          Val-d'Or, CA

2016  Doll’s Eyes and Dimetrodon Tears (Linden Baierl, curator), Hessel

          Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, US

          Sýning, Bílskúrs Gallerí, Icelandic Textile Centre, Blönduós, IS

          Engaging the Senses Through Textiles & Materiality Research- 

          Creation — International Visual Literacy Association 48th Annual

          Conference Exhibition (Kathleen Vaughan, curator), Musée des beaux

          arts de Montreal, CA

          [CTRL + SELF] Intimacy, Extimacy and Control in the (Age of) Shared

          Self-Representation – HTMlles Festival Exhibition (Laura Baigorri,

          curator), Studio XX, Montreal, CA

          L'art est vivant! (Anne-Marie Belley, curator), Maison des arts de

          Laval, CA

          Art Hack Day Flash Exhibition, Sight & Sound Festival 2016: Per

          Capita, Eastern Bloc, Montreal, CA

          1st Do-it-Yourself Biology Canadian Summit/ Bio Fair, Public Health

          Agency of Canada, Ottawa, CA

          Sauerkraut/ Lactobacilli performed as part of Marta De Menezes –

          Kitchen Talk: Activating cell lines in the kitchen, art gallery and the

          science laboratory, Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture & Technology at

          Concordia University, Montreal, CA

2015  Biomateria + Contagious Matters with Tristan Matheson, presented

          as part of Re-Create International Conference on Theories, Methods

          and Practices of Research-Creation in the Histories of Media Art,

          Science and Technology, FOFA Gallery, Montreal, CA