Wanda Nanibush


Wanda Nanibush is an Anishinaabe curator, artist and educator based in Toronto, Ontario. From 2016 to 2023, she held the position of the inaugural curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Nanibush won the 2023 Toronto Book Award for the book Moving the Museum, written in collaboration with her fellow Art Gallery of Ontario curator Georgiana Uhlyarik and was a jurist for the 2023 Sobey Art Award.

Career

Nanibush is a member of the Beausoleil First Nation. She obtained an MA in visual studies from the University of Toronto. She has also served as Curator in Residence at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.
Nanibush has a long-standing relationship with Anishinaabe multimedia artist Rebecca Belmore and has curated a series of shows featuring her work including KWE: Photography, Sculpture, Video and Performance by Rebecca Belmore at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, and Rebecca Belmore: ''Facing the Monumental'' a survey of Belmore's 30 year career at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Nanibush has been an active community organizer participating in demonstrations against the Iraq War and uranium processing, and raising awareness about the relationship between racism and lack of education. She has also worked as an organizer for Idle No More Toronto talks and teach-ins to help with education efforts.
In 2025, she will serve as the Helen Frankenthaler Visiting Professor in Curating in the Ph.D programme in art history at the City University of New York.

Other activities

In 2024, Nanibush was part of the jury that selected Rosana Paulino as recipient of the inaugural Munch Award.

Curated exhibitions

  • Robert Houle, Red is Beautiful, organized by AGO, toured to Calgary Contemporary, Winnipeg Art Gallery, on view at Smithsonian Museum of American Indian Art until May 2024.
  • Rosalie Favell, Portraits of Desire, AGO
  • Radical Remembrance: The Sculptures of David Ruben Piqtoukun, AGO, January 21 - June 25, 2023
  • Shuvinai Ashoona Beyond the Visible, AGO, 2021
  • Rebecca Belmore, Turbulent Water co-curated with Angela Goddard, Griffith University Art Gallery 2021, toured to Buxton Contemporary. Rebecca Belmore's first Australian solo exhibition.
  • Bill Nasogaluak, AGO, December 18, 2021 - ongoing
  • Karoo Ashevak, AGO, 2019-2021
  • Michael Belmore, AGO, September 26, 2020 - November 21, 2021
  • Sandra Brewster, BLUR, April, 2020 -September 13, 2020 plus wall transfer installation Untitled, McLean Centre, AGO, 2020-2023.
  • Peter Pitseolak, AGO, 2018-2020
  • Rebecca Belmore: Facing the Monumental, organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Ontario, toured to the Remai Modern and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
  • June Clark, AGO, June 30, 2018 - Dec 9, 2018
  • Nanabozho's Sisters, Dalhousie Art Gallery, October 12 - November, 2018 toured to Doris McCarthy Gallery, Feb 9 - March 30, 2019
  • McLean Centre for Indigenous and Canadian Art, AGO, 2018-2023
  • Sovereign Acts II, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University, toured to the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Windsor, Galerie d'art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen, Kelowna Art Gallery
  • Rita Letendre, Fire & Light, co-curated with Georgiana Uhlyarik, AGO,
  • Tanya Lukin Linklater, Sun Force, performance, AGO, August 9–18, 2017
  • The Fifth World, Mendel Art Gallery and toured to the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery
  • KWE: Photography, Sculpture, Video and Performance by Rebecca Belmore, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
  • House of Wayward Spirits, Across Toronto, 2012, Rebecca Belmore and Adrian Stimson perform in Queens Park, James Luna performs at The Sister, Lori Blondeau, Archer Pechawis, Ulysses Castellanos, Terrance Houle, Cathy Gordon perform at Toronto Free Gallery.
  • Sovereign Acts, Justina M Barnicke gallery, April 18 - May 27, 2012, Open Space Gallery, May 1 - June 15, 2014, Neutral Ground, Feb 22 - April 4, 2014, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, May 1 - June 15, 2014
  • Mapping Resistances, Odemin Giizis festival, Peterborough, performances by Tanya Lukin Linklater, James Luna, Rebecca Belmore, Archer Pechawis, work by Robert Houle, storytelling by Doug Williams, Leanne Simpson
  • Rez-Erection: Belle Sauvage, Buffalo Boy, Miss Chief set up Camp, Ode'min Giizis Festival, 2009,
  • Chronotopic Village, Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, 2009, Kevin Lee Burton, Thirza Cuthand, Cheryl L'hirondelle, Nadia Myre, Darlene Naponse

Publications

  • Wanda Nanibush Reading List https://www.obodmag.com/issue-4/wanda-nanibush-reading-list
  • Robert Houle, Red is Beautiful catalogue
  • Moving the Museum, 2023
  • Rebecca Belmore Facing the Monumental Catalogue

Awards and honours

  • 2023: Toronto Book Award for Moving the Museum
  • 2024: Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Award for curatorial excellence.