PROGRAM
The Hnatyshyn Foundation – TD Bank Group Awards for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art and Emerging Visual Artist (2013-2019)
Past Recipients
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The laureates received their awards on September 4th, 2018 at a special reception at the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in Ottawa.
Eunice Bélidor - Award for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art
Eunice Bélidor - Award for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art
Born in Tiohtia:ke /Montreal, Bélidor is a curator, critic and researcher, specializing in contemporary Haitian art, and interested in fashion design, performance, Black studies and feminism. Her curatorial practice aims to create intersectional links between her research interests, as well as the art object / subject and the institution. She is the founder of #CuratorialTips, a research and help tool for emerging curators and their practice. She questions everything, believing that asking the right questions are the best ways to come up with creative and thoughtful answers. Her writing has been published in Hyperallergic, the Journal of Curatorial Studies, Invitation (Art Mûr gallery), InCirculation, and Espace Art Actuel. She regularly takes part in various juries and committees: she currently sits on the Visual Arts Evaluation Committee at the Conseil des Arts de Montréal. She currently works as programming coordinator at articule, an artist-run centre in Montreal.
"This award will help me pursue the research and development of my upcoming exhibition on the Black body and how heavily codified it is, and how performative it is represented. It will also help me to focus more on critical writing, developing the tools and improving this skill, so that I can better write and disseminate ideas on curating, intersectionality, gender and the different issues affecting BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) lives."
Anique Jordan - Award for Emerging Visual Artist
Anique Jordan - Award for Emerging Visual Artist
A self-trained Scarborough born, Trinidadian, multi-disciplinary artist, Jordan specializes in 3 areas: costume, performance and photography. Jordan integrates these three diverse art practices to create a unique and distinctive artistic style called performance-photography. These three elements are influenced by a practice rooted in the dying art of Trinidadian carnival masquerade costume making and street performance.
“My work is deeply rooted in exposing what is invisible, erased or absent from historical narratives, particularly focusing on Black Canadian history. Of Black bodies, I ask where can we see what is historically, socially and politically deemed invisible in Canada? Yet hyper-visible in Canadian institutions? I have found what is central to these answers are the creation or recognition of bodies that are capable of possessing both spaces, a hybridity of sorts. Visualizing these bodies and sites is the at nucleus of my practice and fuels the vision of my work”
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John Hampton and Jennifer Aitken received their awards on May 8, 2017 at a special reception at the Art Museum, University of Toronto.
John Hampton - Award for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art
John Hampton - Award for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art
John Hampton is the recipient of the curatorial award. He is the Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, an Adjunct Curator at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, and holds an MVS in Curatorial Studies from the University of Toronto. He is Chickasaw/Canadian, living in Treaty 2 territory, Brandon, Manitoba. In Hampton’s words
“I curate exhibitions because of their potential to create experiences that enrich communities, minds, and lives by making complexity accessible.”
Jennifer Aitken - Award for Emerging Visual Artist
Jennifer Aitken - Award for Emerging Visual Artist
Aitken’s sculptures center around the built environment but they are persistently ambiguous. Aitken is based in Toronto and holds an MFA from the University of Guelph and a BFA from Emily Carr University. Recent solo exhibitions include Kaloune at YYZ Artists’ Outlet and Numa at Battat Contemporary.
“My core drive as an artist is to encourage intuitive intelligence. I aim to subvert language and interpretation in order to emphasize direct experience,” says Aitken.
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The recipient of the 2015 award is Kim Nguyen of Vancouver. Kim received her prize on April 27th, 2016 at a special reception at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Kim Nguyen
Curator and writer Kim Nguyen is the third recipient of The Hnatyshyn Foundation - TD Bank Group Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art Award. She received her Master of Arts in Critical and Curatorial Studies from The University of British Columbia and her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from The University of Manitoba. From 2011-2016 she was the director/curator of Artspeak, where she presented exhibitions and publications with artists such as Erica Stocking, Abigail DeVille, Yuji Agematsu, Valérie Blass, Aaron Flint Jamison, Marina Roy, and Danh Vo. Ms. Nguyrn has received awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for her curatorial work and research. She was a member of the 2013 Canada Council Asia Pacific Visual Arts Delegation and in 2014 was a resident at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin. She lives and works in Vancouver.
In Nguyen’s words
“My work is a constant balance between taking great care of artworks and artists while operating as if I have nothing to lose. I can, and do, present things out of a deep affection for them (and with affection comes criticism), and I can be, and am, in service to artists always. ”
Nguyen was selected by a jury of arts professionals, including Candice Hopkins, Chief Curator at The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and recipient of the 2015 Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Curatorial Excellence; Reesa Greenberg, art and exhibition historian; and Pamela Meredith, Senior Curator, TD Bank Group, Toronto. The award was presented during a reception at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Photo of Kim Nguyen by Erik Hood
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The recipient of the 2014 award is cheyanne turions.
cheyanne turions is an independent, Toronto-based writer and curator.
“Her curatorial vision stands out for being highly considered and articulated, as well as being relevant, provocative, risky and ambitious” said curator Daina Augaitis.
In turions’ words “[My] work approaches the space of exhibition as alive—the gallery is a space of dialogue where artists, curators and publics can reflect on and experiment with ways of seeing (and being).”
“Congratulations to turions for her impressive career to date – and to the many other inspiring submissions from young curators for this award” said Pamela Meredith, Senior Curator, TD Bank Group. “As a dedicated supporter of arts and culture in Canada, we’re committed to creating opportunities for young people to embrace and pursue their passion in the arts.”
The jury was impressed with turions’ breadth of work, its intelligence, and sensitivity. Summary of highlights include:
Most recently she co-curated the series Canadian Ecstasy with poet and performance artist Ariana Reines at Gallery TPW and reviewed the Kuwait Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture for C Magazine.
Her exhibition at the Art Gallery of Windsor, Other Electricities, was presented the inaugural award for Innovation in a Collections-based Exhibition by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries in 2014.
She has presented other curatorial projects at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Video Fag, SBC Gallery, Nuit Blanche (Montréal), Art Metropole, A Space, Gallery TPW, the Images Festival, VIVO Media Arts and the Western Front.
Her writing has been published by Monte Cristo Magazine, the Blackwood Gallery, General Fine Arts, Prefix Photo, Syphon, the MacLaren Art Centre, Gallery 44, the Museum of the Near Future, FUSE and Canadian Art.
Currently she is a member of the co-creative team for the Art and Society theme within the Cities for People project and works as a Curatorial Assistant at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery while pursing a master’s degree in Visual Studies at the University of Toronto.
She also sits on the Board of Directors for Fillip Magazine and is the director of No Reading After the Internet (Toronto).
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Jon Davies is the recipient of the inaugural Award for Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art
Jon Davies
Jon Davies is a Montreal-born curator and writer based in Toronto.
The jury for the Emerging Curator of Contemporary Canadian Art was impressed by Davies’ original concepts and the quality and range of his work.
"Davies’ personal approach is a bridge between artist and audience. He routinely demonstrates that his curatorial vision is one rooted not simply in rigorous curatorial exercises (at which he excels), but also in creating opportunities for lasting engagement between audiences, art and ideas. This commitment to advancing contemporary art discourses is fundamental to Jon’s work as a curator. The writing accompanying his exhibitions is mature, well-researched and reflects his passion and perspective."
Davies’ curated contemporary art exhibitions include: People Like Us: The Gossip of Colin Campbell (2008), Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (2012–13), Kelly Jazvac: PARK (2013) and Sonny Assu: Possession (2013–14) for Oakville Galleries, where he is Associate Curator, as well as Ryan Trecartin: Any Ever (2010, co-curator), To What Earth Does This Sweet Cold Belong? (2011) and Coming After (2011–12) for The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. His writing has appeared in publications such as C Magazine, Canadian Art, Journal of Curatorial Studies, Fillip, Little Joe, No More Potlucks and Cinema Scope, as well as in numerous books and anthologies on artists such as Daniel Barrow, Candice Breitz, FASTWÜRMS, Luis Jacob and Andy Warhol. He has organized many artists' film and video screenings with the collective Pleasure Dome, and currently sits on the board of Gallery TPW.
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