SCOTT BENESIINAABANDAN Montreal, Canada. chisel4@gmail.com
Biographical stuff
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Scott Benesiinaabandan is Anishinaabe, a member of Obishkkokaang/Lac Seul First Nations.
Scott is an intermedia artist that currently works in experimental image making and sonic materials.Scott is currently resident in Montreal, where he has completed a MFA in photography..Scott’s current research interests are intersections of artificial-intelligence and Anishinaabemowin,Scott has completed international residencies at Parramatta Artist Studios in Australia, Context Gallery in Derry, North of Ireland, and University Lethbridge/Royal Institute of Technology iAIR residency, along with international collaborative projects in both the U.K and Ireland. Scott has completed residencies with Initiative for Indigenous Futures and AbTec in Montreal. -95 words>
Benesiinaabandan has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Arts Council and Conseil des arts des lettre du Quebec. His work can be found in a number of private, provincial and national collections.
Benesiinaabandan has taken part in several notable exhibitions across Canada and internationally, Harbourfront’s Flatter the Land/Bigger the Ruckus, ,Subconscious City at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, GHOSTDANCE at Ryerson Image Centre and solo exhibitions; unSacred, at Gallery 1C03 and in Sydney,Australia, mii omaa ayaad/Oshiki Inendemowin , Melbourne with Blood Memories, little resistances at Platform Gallery, Insurgence/Resurgence (2017) and recently completed a public commission for CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto.
Artist Statement
My most recent work has been centered on cultural crisis/conflict and its political and cultural manifestations, located and contextualized around issues of Indigeniety from a global perspective. More broadly it seeks to addresses a continuing development and creation of a deeper personal cosmology originating in the ideas of reclamation and sovereignty, the impacts and effects of relationships and familial/communal ties, non-conventional ways of knowing (ie. dreaming, intuition, blood memory, collective subconscious), underlying tensions and complexity inherent in searching for truth and how these impacts radiate out into wider communities. Building on my world-views and borrowing strongly from my past (non-artistic) works, active seeking and fostering of collaborative artistic projects continues to be a deeply meaningful and fruitful avenue of investigation and creation.
Exhibitions
(upcoming) Nuit Blanche Toronto. 2022
Sensing Nature.Momenta Biennale de l’image.September, 2021.
Geofence. Interaccess. Toronto, Ont. May, 2021.
La machine qui enseignait des airs aux oiseaux. Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.(group).2020-2021..
MUTEK EDITION 22. September, 2020.
Why Sentience?. ISEA October 2020.
Radical Hope. Blackwood Gallery.Mississauga Ont. Oct.2020.
A web based work.Forest City Gallery. London Ontario.August 2020
BACA.(group).Art Mur. May, 2020.
Future [im]parfait. Oboro Gallery. (group).Montreal, QC. November, 2019.
Echoes. Burnaby Art Gallery.(group).Burnaby, BC. November, 2019.
Bcc:.Vivid Projects.(group) London, UK.August, 2019.
Hexsa'a̠m: To Be Here Always.Belkin Art Gallery. Vancouver, BC. Sept,2019.
SPECULATIVE CULTURES. The New School / Parsons, NYC. February, 2019.
Through Lines. Koffler Gallery. September, 2018.
URL/IRL. Dunlop Gallery. Regina, SK. June, 2018.
Here be Dragons. CUAG.September, 2018.
Inaabiwin.Robert McLaughlin Gallery.(touring) Oshawa, ON. July 2020 et. al.
Galerie de l’UQÀM. RADAR 2018.Montreal, QC . May 16, 2018.
PAVED Art.(solo).Saskatoon, SK. May, 2018.
Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. newlandia: debaabaminaagwad.public installation. Toronto. May-Aug, 2018.
Winnipeg Art Gallery.Resistance+Resurgence.(group) September, 2017.
TIFF Lightbox/IFF/Imaginenative. 2167. Toronto (ongoing tour 2017-18) July 2017.
A Place Between. Urban Shaman Gallery. Winnipeg.April.2017
A Few Similar Things. Untitled Art Society,(group) Calgary Feb-Mar 2017.
Phenomena. Parramatta Artist Studios.Syndey, AUS. October, 2016
Screens and Thresholds. Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver.(group) October, 2016.
Wearing Our Identity. Mccord Museum. guest artist installation. January, 2016
Fifth World. mii omaa ayaad.(group) The Fifth World @ Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery. January, 2016.
Whose Nation? Re-imagined National Identities. Gallery8. Budapest, Hungary June, 2016.
little resistance.(solo) Platform Gallery (Winnipeg). June, 2015.
underground is where the heart is. (collaboration) Tom Thompson Gallery, Owen Sound.June, 2015.
our land, together. (group) Harbourfront Centre (Toronto). June, 2015.
Mamoowiang-to make change.sandbox.(collaborative work) AGSM May, 2015.
Fifth World. mii omaa ayaad. Mendel Art Gallery, SK. May, 2015.
Actions Must Match Words / De la parole aux gestes. Musée d'art contemporain des Laurentides
Saint-Jérôme, QC.March, 2015.
Memetic Drive: The Video Work of Scott Benesiinaabandan.WINDX Festival (Winnipeg) September, 2014.
A-Space/imagineNATIVEI:ke - I have motion.(Toronto).September ,2014
Ottawa Art Gallery. 2-State Solution, projections in public space. .August 22, 2014
Art Mur Storytelling : The Biennial of Art Contemporary Aboriginal, 2nd Edition.(Montreal) May, 2014
Artsouterrain 2014 (Montreal).termes d'appartenance. March, 2014
Parramatta Artist Studios (Sydney, AUS) Enduring Lands.2014.
Ryerson Image Centre. GHOSTDANCE: Activism, Resistance, Art. ( Toronto)September, 2013
Jerusalem Fund Gallery.The Map is Not the Territory (Washington+L.A, USA) September(2013)/May(2014)
CT-International Print Biennale 2013. (Cuba)
Urban Shaman Gallery Ak-Sunrise: an outdoor projection. June, 2013.
Project Space BLOOD MEMORIES. (Melbourne, AUS) June, 2013
Gallery 101, ASINABKA Festival. AK-Sunrise. (Ottawa) June, 2012.
Parramatta Artist Studios, Sydney, Australia. Mii omaa ayaad/ oshkii inendamowin. March, 2012
Manitoba Artist Network touring group show. Personal Politics. Winter-Spring, 2011
Context Gallery, Unsacred (Lightbox Commission). Derry, North of Ireland December, 2011
Martha Street Studio. Historical Landscapes. (solo w/ collaborative works) September, 2011
Post No Bills, temporary gallery.Winnipeg, Mb. (group show) August, 2011
Anishinabe Solidarity Flag on Free Derry Wall.(installation) Derry, North of Ireland.December, 2011
Safe European Home-To Whom It Might Concern(collaboration).Vienna, Austria.June, 2011
La Maison Rouge.My Winnipeg.Imagetaker /Preneurd'images Collective. Paris, June, 2011
A.R.T Post a February art show. (group exhibition) February, 2011
G1C03. unSacred. (solo exhibition) January 20-February 26, 2011
Martha Street Studios:Yellowbird. folio launch May, 2010
Buhler Gallery. Mapping. (group exhibition)February, 2010
WPG Film Group Spider Pig.Best of WNDX-Super 8.Winnipeg, 2009
INAC.Living Conditions in First Nations Communities.(group exhibition) Ottawa, 2009
CSIF 16th Annual $100 Film Festival, Spider Pig. Edmonton, 2008
The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Subconscious City. (group exhibition) Winnipeg, 2008
Spiderpig Online Exhibition. Stormspirits.ca 2008
Martha Street Studio, when they came. (group exhibition) Winnipeg, 2007
Harbourfront Centre, Flatter the Land, Bigger the Ruckus. (group exhibition)Toronto, 2006
Urban Shaman Faces Project. (collaborative project w/Water & Light), Winnipeg, 2006
imagineNative Festival.Toronto, 2005.
Grants & Awards
Canada Council for the Arts New Media Production Grant : Concordia/OBx Labs, 2017.
Canada Council for the Art: Research/Production 2013
Uni.Lethbridge-Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Residency, May-June 2013.
Canada Council for the Arts New Media Production Grant : Concordia/OBx Labs, May 2012-May 2013
Canada Council for the Arts International Residency Program: Parramatta Artist Studio 2012
Manitoba Arts Council Creative Development 2011
Manitoba Arts Council Creative Development 2010
Winnipeg Arts Council "B" grant 2009
Winnipeg Arts Council Professional Development 2009
INAC- Living Conditions in First Nations Communities Project (National)- 2008
Manitoba Arts Council: Creative Development 2008
Manitoba Arts Council: Creative Development 2006
Collections
Global Affairs- Canadian Paris Embassy, Manitoba Provincial Art Bank, Winnipeg Foundation, New Directions Foundation, Manitoba Hydro Art Bank, Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Art Collection, private collections,
Reviews
BlackFlash Magazine Summer 2011.: Review of unSacred by JJ.Kegan McFadden
Winnipeg Free Press February 10,2011 ( on unSacred)
Uniter ( on unSacred) January 19, 2011
Uptown (on unSacred) February 25, 2011
Winnipeg Free Press (on Flatter the Land,Bigger the Ruckus) June 2006
Publications
Public Journal. (cover i,mage) Fall 2017
Blackflash-Artist Folio. Spring 2017
C-Mag (cover image) Summer 2016
Platform Gallery, little resistances, 2015.
Visual Celebrations Buhler Gallery. 2012
Historical Landscapes.Prefix Magazine, Vol.24 Number 2. December 2011
unSacred.G1C03, 2011.
Subconscious City. Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2008
Flatter the Land, Bigger the Ruckus.Urban Shaman,2006.
Talks/Presentations
Urban Shaman Gallery. a place between. May 2017
McGill University. Indigenous Art History. September 2015.
Yamaji Arts Centre, Geraldton, Western Australia. June 2015.
University of Winnipeg, Art History class. June 2015.
This Could Be the Place Conference.Waterloo. June, 2014
Congress 2014, Brock University.May, 2014
Concordia University. Transmissions conference.March 2013
Ryerson University. Pictures by Indians Symposium February 2013
Parramatta Artist Studios. artist talk. March, 2012
Geraldton, Western Australia, Cultural Centre. Artist talk February, 2012
Gallery 1C03. Artist talk on the solo exhibition unSacred 2010
Boards/Committee/Volunteer work
Juries for: Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Arts Counil, Aceart INC.,Video Pool, Platform, Urban Shaman, imagineNative Film Festival, Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival
Platform Gallery Outreach and Darkroom Committee 2006-07
Education
MFA-Studio-Photo. Concordia University. 2017-19.
Mentorship/New Works Creations with Martha Street Studios and Patrick Neufield.2008-2009
Mentorship/professional development with Rita Leistner in Oklahoma.2009
University of Winnipeg Bachelors of Psychology & Cultural Studies.Honours.2002
Martha Street Studios Aboriginal Printmakers Workshops (w/ Lynne Allen) 2006-07