my . artist run website  

Curriculum Vitae

Downloadable CV 2021


Solo Exhibitions

2021
Special Apperance By... - Zalucky Contemporary, Toronto, ON

Omnibus - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC

 

2020
Imaginary Lines - Art Mur, Montreal, QC

 

2019

T´łaḵwa - - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC

(UN)Named Maker, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK

Sonny Assu: A Radical Remixing, Canada House Gallery, London, UK

 

2018

Sonny Assu: Etudes for the Settler - Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA

Territorial Acknowledgements - Campbell River Art Gallery, Campbell River, BC

A Selective History - La Guild, Montreal, QC

The Paradise Syndrome - Tidemark Theatre, Campbell River, BC

 

2016

Interventions on the Imaginary - Art Mur, Montreal, QC

We Come to Witness: Sonny Assu In Dialogue with Emily Carr - Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

The Paradise Syndrome - Malaspina Printmakers Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Home Coming - Campbell River Art Gallery, Campbell River, BC

1UP - Surrey Art Gallery’s UrbanScreen, Surrey, BC

 

2015

Day School- Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, , BC

Continuum - Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Value Of What Goes Within - SIGHTINGS 13, Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen, Montreal, QC

 

2014

Interventions on the Imaginary - FOFA Gallery (York Vitrines), Montreal, QC

Echoes - Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC

There Is Hope, If We Rise - Urban Shaman, Winnipeg, MN

 

2013

Sonny Assu: Possession - Oakville Galleries (Centennial Square), Oakville, On

#neveridle - Art Mur, Montreal, QC

 

2012

There Is Hope, If We Rise - Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC

The Happiest Future - Gallery Fukai, Vancouver, BC

Offcuts - The Langham Cultural Centre, Kaslo, BC

 

2011

Silenced - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, , BC

Longing - West Vancouver Museum, West Vancouver, BC

Anthropological Intervention - Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC

 

2010
Sonny Assu - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC

 

2009
iDrums - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC

 

2007
iPotlatch - Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, MB

 

2006
Sonny Assu: As defined by the Indian Act - Belkin Satellite Gallery, Vancouver, BC

  

Group Exhibitions

2022
The World We Know, New Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection - Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ont 


2021
Shifting Boundries - Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN
Memory and Time - Art Mur, Montreal, QC

Humour as Medicine - Campbell River Art Gallery, Campbell River, BC

Em̓út | Being Home - Libby Leshgold Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2020

Uncommon Language - Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Wayfinding: Contemporary Artists, Critical Dialogues, and the Knafel Map Collection - Addison Gallery of American Art​ Andover, MA, USA 

Where We Have Been - Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, BC 

Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future - Institute of American Indian Arts,Santa Fe, New Mexico Fabulous Images. 

When Fiction Takes Root - Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, QC

 

2019

There Is Hope If We Rise: Protest Posters from AIM to DAPL - David W. May American Indian Gallery, San Diego, California

Indigenous Futurisms: Explorations in Art and Play - C.N. Gorman Museum at UC Davis, Davis, California

Sonny Assu & Emily Carr: Conversing Cultures - Audain Art Museum, Whistler, BC

Person/ne - Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver, BC

Displacement - Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

 

2018

The Metamorphosis - Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Live Long & Prosper: Sci-Fi Images in Contemporary Indigenous Art - New Mexico State University Museum, NM, USA

Here Be Dragons - Carlton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON

morph - Central Library, Vancouver, BC

Triennale Banlieue! Là où se prépare le futur - Maison Des Arts De Laval, Laval, QC

POP - Audain Art Museum, Whistler, BC, Canada

Juxtaposition - Galerie BLANC, Montreal, QC

Sonny Assu, Renée Van Halm, Etienne Zack: Works on Paper - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver BC

 

2017

L’Offre - DHC/ART, Montreal, QC

Future Memories (Present Tense) - Illingworth Kerry Gallery, Calgary, AB

Modern Legends - ACT Art Gallery, Maple Ridge, BC.

Raise a Flag: Works from the Indigenous Art Collection (2000-2015) - Onsite Gallery, Toronto, ON

An Absolute Movement - Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Coyote School - McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON

Awakening Memory - Open Space, Victoria, BC

 

2016

Rencontres Improbables (the secret encounters of Kusama Kalthoum), oqbo, Berlin, De

Neon NDN, SAW Gallery, Ottawa, ON

INDIAN ACTS: Truths in the Age of Reconciliation, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ON

Canadian Belonging(s) - The Art Gallery of Mississauga, ON

Culture Shift - Art Mur, Montreal, QC

Re-mixed: Reconfiguring the Imaginary - Union Gallery, Queen’s University, Kingston ON

 

2015

Into the Wild - Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, ON

The Rebel Yells - FOFA Gallery, Montreal, QC

Hip Hop - Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France


2014

Here; Now: Native Artists Inspired - Burke Museum, Seattle, WA, USA

Tragedy Plus Time - Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, SK

 

2013

Qui suis-je ? L’identité autochtone au 21e siècle - Maison des Jésuites de Sillery, Quebec, QC

Ghost Dance - Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, ON

Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON

The Violent Bear It Away - Biola University Art Gallery, La Mirada, CA, USA

Artist Poster Show - Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, BC

 

2012

Carrying on “Irregardless”- Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art - Vancouver, BC

Material Wealth: Revealing Landscape - Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON

Ebb and Flow - Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo, BC

Throw Down - Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC

A Stake in the Ground: Contemporary Native Art Manifestation - Art Mur, Montreal, QC

 

2011

Shore, Forest and Beyond: Art From the Audain Collection - Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

(Be)longing - Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, WA, USA

 

2010

Exhibit E - Rennie Collection at Wing Sang, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Alternorthern - The LAB. San Francisco, CA, USA

 

2009

Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast - Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Vancouver, BC

Blue Like an Orange - Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON

How Soon Is Now? - Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Pop Goes the World - The Red Shift Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

 

2008

World Histories - Des Moines Art Center. Des Moines, IA, USA

Comic Relief - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON

  

2007
SAM at 75 - Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, WA, USA

 

2006
Past to Present - Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC


2005
Evolution (Alumni Exhibition) - Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC


2003
Thinking Textile - Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC

  

Group Touring Exhibitions

 

2019-21

The Drive

Art Gallery of Guelph - Guelph, ON/ Thunder Bay Art Gallery - Thunder Bay Art, ON/ Confederation Centre Art Gallery - Charlottetown, PE/ Museum London - London, ON

 

2018-20

Conflicting Heroes

Quai 5160 - Maison de la culture de Verdun, Verdun, QC/ Centre culturel Peter B. Yeomans, Dorval, QC Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay, Montréal QC/ Maison de la culture Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension Montréal, QC/ Art Mûr, Berlin, Germany

 

2019

First Nations Art of British Columbia

Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Kahului, Hawaii/ *Forthcoming* East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

2018

Borrowing the Earth (Russia Touring Exhibition)

Orenburg Fine Arts Museum, Orenburg/ Nesterov Bashkir State Art Museum in Ufa/ The Udmurt Republican Museum of Fine Arts, Izhevsk/ Museum of Fine Arts, Novy Urengoy Museum Resource Center of Noyabrsk, Noyabrsk/ South Urals History Museum in Chelyabinsk Tyumen Fine Arts Museum, Tyumen/ Yekaterinburg Fine Arts Museum, Yekaterinburg.

 

2017-20

Ready Player Two: Sonny Assu and Brendan Tang

Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary AB/ York University Art Gallery, Toronto, ON/ Niagara Artists Centre, St. Catherines, ON Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History, Nelson, BC/ Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, YT The Reach Gallery and Museum, Abbotsford, BC

 

2016-19

When Raven Became Spider

Wanuskewin Galleries/ The Art Gallery of Sudbury, Sudbury/ Ottawa Art Gallery/ Dunlop Art Gallery

 

2014-15

The Fifth World

Kitchner-Waterloo Art Gallery, Ontario/ Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon

 

2014

Storytelling

Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON/ Art Mur, Montreal, QC

2011-13

Don’t Stop Me Now

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON/ Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, Medicine Hat, AB

 

2013

Stocked - Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ/ Ulrich Museum of Art

 

2012-2015
Beat Nation: Art, Hip-Hop and Aboriginal Culture
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal/ Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops/ Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina/
Dalhousie Art Gallery and Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery The Power Plant, Toronto/ Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

 

2011-15

Decolonize Me

Tom Thomson Art Gallery/ The Reach Gallery Museum/ Thunder Bay Art Gallery/ Art Gallery of Windsor Foreman Art Gallery/ The Robert McLaughlin Gallery/ Ottawa Art Gallery

 

2009

Beat Nation

Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, BC/ Galerie SAW Gallery, Ottawa, ONT

 

2005-08

Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation, 2

Tucson Museum of Art/ Anchorage Museum of History & Art/ Weisman Art Museum/ Naples Museum of Art Eiteljorg Museum/ Institute of American Indian Arts Museum/ Museum of Arts & Design

 

2003-05

Futuristic Regalia

Campbell River Art Gallery/ Alternator Gallery/Grunt Gallery

  

Public Art Projects

 

2021
Dance as Though the Ancestors are Watching - Vancouver Mural Festival, 2231 Columbia Street


2018
Slurpee Stopour (w/ Mark Ollinger)-  Vancouver Mural Festival, 14th and Main St.



2014

Reconciliation - Commissioned Public Art (Temporary) for the City of Vancouver.


2013
Tag - Commissioned Public Art Work for Onni Development and the City of Vancouver.


2012
Kingsway Trail - Commissioned Public Art Work for the City of Vancouver Public Art Program.

  

Collections

Eiteljorg Museum/ The National Gallery of Canada/ Vancouver Art Gallery/ Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts/ The Art Gallery of Ontario/ The McMaster Museum of Art/ Canadian Museum of History/ Surrey Art Gallery, Thunder Bay Art Gallery/ Art Gallery of Guelph/ The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria/ Canada Council Art Bank/ The City of Richmond (BC)/ Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs/ Museum of Anthropology at UBC/ The Indigenous Art Collection - Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada/ The Canada Council Art Bank/ Foreign Affairs Canada Visual Art Collection/ Nanaimo Art Gallery/ The Seattle Art Museum/ The Burke Museum/ The City of Vancouver (BC)/ Audain Art Museum/ Hydro Quebec/ Lotto Quebec. 


Works held in private collections in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

  

Artist Talks and Lectures

University of East Anglia / Frye Art Museum/ University of Washington/ Campbell River Art Gallery/ Surrey Art Gallery/ Art Gallery of Guelph/ Thunder Bay Art Gallery/ Two Rivers Gallery/ Urban Shaman/ Art Gallery of Greater Victoria/ West Vancouver Museum/ The McMichael Canadian Art Collection/ Des Moines Art Center/ Seattle Art Museum/ Museum of Anthropology/ Vancouver Art Gallery/ Université du Québec à Montréal/ Emily Carr University/ University of Western Ontario/ Wilfred Laurier University/ Concordia University/ Bishops University/ University of Victoria/ Capilano University/ Camosun College/ University of Lethbridge/ Vancouver Island University

 

  

Artist in Residence

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich UK/ West Vancouver Secondary School, West Vancouver, BC/ Collingwood School, West Vancouver, BC/ Bill Holm Center, Seattle, WA/ Baie St. Paul Artist Symposium, Baie St. Paul QC/ The Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC/ The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON/ Des Moines Art Center, IA, USA.

  

Arts Festivals

Vancouver Mural Festival (2018) - 13th and Main St, Vancouver - "Slurpee Stupor"/ Vancouver Mural Festival (2021) 2231 Columbia St, Vancouver - "Dance as though the Ancestors are Watching"/ Talking Stick Festival (Coming to the Fire, 2015), Vancouver, BC/ Facade Fest, Vancouver, BC/ Art in the Open, Charlottetown, PEI Harmony Arts Festival, West Vancouver, BC/ BC Swarm 12 (Labyrinth Gallery), Vancouver, BC/ New Forms Festival 11 (Art, Revolution and Ownership), Vancouver, BC

  

Grants and Awards

Eiteljorg Fellowship, 2021

Laureate of the REVEAL Indigenous Art Award, 2017

British Columbia Arts Council: Production Grant - 2004/2007/2009/2010/2017

Sobey Art Award Long List, BC and Yukon Region - 2012/2013/2015

Canada Council for the Arts: Travel Grant - 2015

Canada Council for the Arts: Production Grant - 2007/2012

British Columbia Achievement Foundation: Award of Excellence in First Nations Art - 2011

Emily Carr University: Emily Award, Distinguished Alumni Award - 2007 

First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation: Emerging Individual Artists Grant - 2003

The Vancouver Foundation: Visual Arts Development Awards (VADA) - 2003

  

Peer Assessment Juries

2017
British Columbia Arts Council: Interdisciplinary Arts Jury


2012
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada: National Capital Provincial Banners 

Project National Gallery of Canada: So You Want To Be An Artist

2010
Canada Council for the Arts: International Residency jury


2008
British Columbia Arts Council: Visual Art Jury

 

2007
The Vancouver Foundation: Visual Arts Development Awards (VADA)

 

2005
Canada Council for the Arts: Emerging artist grant jury

 

2004

Vancouver: Public Art Program Jury (Art Underfoot)

  

Select Bibliography

Sonny Assu: A Selective History 

Janet Rogers (Forward), Candice Hopkins, Marianne Nicolson, Richard Van Camp, Ellyn Walker, Sonny Assu (Authors) 

Publishers: Heritage House (Canada),

University of Washington Press (US) 

ISBN 978-0295742113

 

Decolonize Me 

Heather Igloliortie, Steven Loft and Brenda Croft 

Publisher: Ottawa Art Gallery 

ISBN 978-1553659297

 

Shore, Forest and Beyond: Art from the Audain Collection 

Ian M. Thom and Grant Arnold 

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre 

ISBN 978-1553659297

 

Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast 

Ian M. Thom 

Publisher: University of Washington Press 

ISBN 978-0295989198

 

Beat Nation: Art Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture 

Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard 

Publisher: Vancouver Art Gallery 

ISBN 978-1-895442-98-4

 

HIP HOP, du Bronx aux rues arabes 

Olivier Cachin (Editor), Bernard Zekri, Karim Hammou, Reda Zine, Christian Bethune, Christian Omodeo, Claire Calogirou, Mark Levine, Anders Ackfedt, Jean-Pierre Filiu, Yassin “The Narcicyst” Alsalman (Authors) 

Publisher: Institut du monde arabe 

ISBN 978-946-161-225-0

 

Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing 

Kiriko Watanabe, Kathryn Bridge, Robin Laurence, Michael Polay 

Publisher: Figure 1 and Audain Art Museum 

ISBN 978-177-327-091-3

 

Tragedy Plus Time: I Laughed, I Cried, I Split My Side 

Blair Fornwalk, Jennifer Matotek, Wendy Peart, Dagmara Genda, Michael Davidge 

Publisher: Black Dog Publishing 

ISBN 978-191-043-329-4

 

Sonny Assu: A Radical Mixing 

Verity Steward, Dennison Smith, Lindsay Nixon 

Publisher: The Baldwin Gallery No ISBN

 

Longing

Darrin Morrison (Forward), Heather Igloliorte, Dion Kliner, Kathleen Ritter (Authors) 

Publisher: West Vancouver Museum 

ISBN 978-099-196-022-4 

 

Community Service

2018 - 2021

Emily Carr University - Board of Governors

 

2009-2011

Grunt Gallery - Vice President, Board of directors

 

2007-08

Grunt Gallery - Board of directors

 

Education

2017

Concordia University, MFA in Visual Arts. - Montreal, QC

 

2002

Emily Carr University of Art + Design, BFA in Visual Arts- Vancouver, BC

 

1999

Kwantlen Polytechnic University - Surrey, BC