Jocelyn Piirainen is an artist, curator and filmmaker originally from Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay), NU and currently based in Ottawa, ON. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University, majoring in Film Studies, and has also attended Algonquin College. Piirainen's educational training has focused on the arts, particularly film and new media, and her current artistic practice primarily involves analog photography. Her written pieces have also been featured in Canadian Art, Canadian Geographic and the Inuit Art Quarterly. She has worked with the curatorial department at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq as the inaugural Assistant Curator of Inuit Art, and in 2022 was named Associate Curator for the Indigenous Ways and Decolonization department at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC).
Piirainen has worked on numerous exhibitions, screenings and arts festivals. As part of the first Indigenous Curatorial Incubator program offered through SAW Video, she co-curated the short film programme “UnMENtionables: Indigenous Masculinities" at the 2015 Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival in Ottawa, ON. In 2016, Piirainen organized Neon NDN: Indigenous Pop-Art at SAW Gallery in Ottawa, ON. She was a co-curator of the landmark exhibition Tunirrusiangit: Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitsiulak that was featured at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, ON, in June of 2018. Piirainen collaborated with other artists, curators and scholars, such as Koomuatuk (Kuzy) Curley, Taqralik Partridge, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Georgiana Uhlyarik and Anna Hudson to curate the work of renowned visual artists from Kinngait, NU, Kenojuak Ashevak, CC, RCA (1927–2013) and Tim Pitsiulak (1967–2016).
While at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, she's organized a handful of exhibitions, including Small Worlds: Inuit Miniature Sculpture, Inuk Style, Nuliajuk's Story, and Inuit Sanaugangit: Art Across Time. She was also a mentor for Aghalinginak Ohokannoak's exhibition, Kakiniit Hivonighijotaa: Inuit Embodied Practices & Meanings that opened at the WAG-Q in 2022.
Sessions in which Jocelyn Piirainen participates
Wednesday 6 November, 2024
Circumpolar Inuit curators share their critical and culturally-grounded approaches to curating exhibitions and working with museums and galleries at home and internationally in this panel. Panelists: Jocelyn Piirainen, Dine Arnannguaq Fenger Lynge, Nivi Christensen, Nadia...
Friday 8 November, 2024
Agguaq Collective highlights the work of nine Inuk women from across Nunavut and Nunavik who visit museum collections to study Inuit ancestral clothing and piqutiit (belongings). In this panel, members of the collective will talk about their work creating new garments based on the patterns found in collections.
Sessions in which Jocelyn Piirainen attends
Wednesday 6 November, 2024
Join us for the opening of the symposium! We will open events with a welcome to territory by Skawennati; a qulliq lighting and opening remarks by Heather Igloliorte.
In this panel, circumpolar artists who have shown their work both in community as well as at international art festivals and major exhibitions discuss their experiences engaging with the global contemporary art world. Panelists: Kablusiak, Inuuteq Storch, Julie Edel Hardenberg, Sonya Kehlier-Combs in conversation with
Acclaimed Inuit fashion designers share in this exciting dialogue on how they began their careers in fashion, where they’re headed, and how they bring Inuit culture into their designs and practices. Panelists: On the Runway: Inuit Fashion and Wearable Art - Taalrumiq , April Allen, Victoria Okpik, and Julie Grenier in conversation with...
In partnership with Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, La Guilde is proud to present Amisut, an exhibition curated by Ooleepeeka Eegeesiak featuring the work of ten early-career Inuit artists: Natashia Allakariallak, Aedan Corey, Saelym Degrandpre, Malaya Kisa-Knickelbein, Mikak, Yvonne Moorhouse, Cassidy-Ann Netser, Jason Sikoak, Taqtu & Sarah Whalen Lunn. Going against the g...
Ahead of the opening of uummaqutik essence of life, Léuli Eshrāghi, Curator of Indigenous Practices, will sit down with the artist and the exhibition’s curator, asinnajaq, to talk about this brand new presentation of the Museum’s collection of art from Inuit Nunangat (Canadian Inuit territories). uum...
Thursday 7 November, 2024
Join us for a conversation with some of the many wonderful alumni of the Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership project. As Inuit Futures draws to a close and new initiatives are being devised for the future, this panel is an opportunity for us to reflect on what we’ve learned, and spotlight some of the former IF students as they have moved in new exciting directions in their careers and practices.
Artists who work in and for their communities and are invested in educating a new generation and carrying forward the stories, knowledge, and practices of their ancestors. Panelists: Christine Q Lussier, Hanne Kirkegaard, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Veronica Flowers, Vanessa Flowers, Evie Mark
Excitingly, we are experiencing unprecedented numbers of Inuit taking up positions of leadership in arts institutions around the circumpolar world. In this panel both senior administrators and emerging Inuit arts leaders come together to discuss the transformation of arts institutions and organizations. Panelist Speakers: Reneltta Arlu...
International Inuit Day Country Food Lunch catered in partnership with the Southern Quebec Inuit Association and hosted at the MMFA. With special performances.
In this exciting fishskin rawhide sewing workshop with famed Alaskan artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs, participants will work with salmon skin tanned by the artist as well as beads and other media, to produce tiny pouches in which to keep your "portable secrets!" This workshop is held at the Montreal ...
The Inuit Art Quarterly's Tauttunnguaqti, or “one who envisions," Napatsi Folger, will give this creative and informative workshop on art writing for the renowned magazine. As the creative visionary for the magazine, Napatsi’s responsibilities are diverse and impactful. As the Tauttunnguaqti, Napatsi edits select issues of IAQ, shapes the themes, and collaborates on editorial decisions such as which artists an...
Inuk museum technician Isabelle Uyaralaaq Avingaq Choquette provides this in-depth, behind-the-scenes, intimate tour of the Avataq Cultural Institute collections. See historical and contemporary Nunavik artworks up close and personal in this rare opportununity in the vaults of Avataq.
This presentation brings together drawings, photographs, sculptures and more in order to promote and share Inuit artistic and cultural heritage and make it more accessible to all audiences. Conceived in collaboration with Inuk artist and curator asinnajaq, ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik invites us to meditate on the rhythms of...
Friday 8 November, 2024
Join Inuit artists, curators and community organizers for this conversation on their experiences as Inuit working in the North and leading Arctic arts institutions, including both new and established organizations. Panelists: Inez Shiwak, Special Kusugak, Kimberly Pilgrim, Jessica Kotierk
In this Inuit-only conversation, Inuit tattoo artists invite conversation and knowledge-sharing about kakiniit and tunniit designs, patterns and meanings, and discuss their various experiences and best practices. Panelists: Marjorie Tahbone, Arsaniq Deer, Malaya Kisa-Knickelbein, Sarah Whalen Lunn
In this conversation about Inuit graphic design, three leading designers share their knowledge, experiences and insights working in this growing and highly-sought after aspect of Inuit creative expression. Panelists: Coco Lynge, Thomassie Mangiok, Mark BennettModerator:
Join us for a wrap-up conversation to reflect on not only the symposium, but also examine the recent history of Inuit art, take stock of the contemporary moment, and collectively envision where we want to take Inuit art into the future.
Curated by Heather Igloliorte and Taqralik Partridge, Ilagiit/Relatives features contemporary Inuit artists from throughout Inuit Nunaat whose works speak to ways of being in relation: to each other and community, the land, past and future generations, namesakes, and Inuit belongings. Inuit relational expressions are explored through painting, video, clothing, photography, textiles, ceramics and other practices; through both human and non-human rel...
Door open at 7:30, show at 8. Suarluni, Emergence features circumpolar women whose performance practices are sometimes described as theatre, spoken word, song, or performance art. Evoking our vibrant homelands and the radical possibilities of performance, they call to us—performances by Sylvia Cloutier, Jessie Kleemann, Taqralik Partridge, and Allison Akootchook Warden.
Join us to celebrate at the ᕿᓐᓂᕋᔮᑦᑐᖅ Qinnirajaattuq / Ripples closing gala featuring DJ Andachan from Greenland! Cash bar with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available. Please note there is no food available at this event. We recommend that you eat dinner beforehand a...