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
Selected Residencies (last 5 years): CA, US, IS, FI, DK, DE, AU, FR, UK
2021 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)
2020 Culture of Contamination (Tarah Rhoda, curator), SciArt Initiative/ New
York Hall of Science, NY, US
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