We are delighted to announce that Mikinaak Migwans will be joining the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto as assistant professor of Indigenous Contemporary Art in Canada in the Department of Art History, and as curator at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto.
A multimedia artist by training, Migwans has expanded their work to include research, teaching, curation and community engagement. An Anishinaabekwe of Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation, Migwans has focused their work on reclaiming Anishinaabe artistic practices and legacies from the archives of colonial institutions. Exploring Anishinaabe art and crafts in museum collections through the lens of critical theory, Migwans addresses questions of object repatriation, culturally sensitive exhibition and the politics of place-making, particularly in land-based art.
Migwans is expected to receive their PhD from the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University in the fall of 2020 with a dissertation on the natural fibre weaving traditions of the Great Lakes. They have worked with the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts & Culture at Carleton University, the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M'Chigeeng First Nation and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
Migwans brings a diversity of expertise in combining curatorial and academic practices to this role and we look forward to welcoming them in April 2020.