Olivia Whetung facts for kids
Olivia Whetung is a modern artist, printmaker, and writer. She is a member of the Curve Lake First Nation and a citizen of the Nishnaabeg Nation. Her art often explores important topics like land, food, language, and caring for the environment.
Education and Learning
Olivia Whetung studied art at Algoma University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She also studied Anishinaabemowin, which is an Indigenous language. Later, she continued her studies at the University of British Columbia, where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Artworks and Shows
Olivia Whetung uses different art forms like printmaking, digital art, and beadwork. She also creates art that looks like maps of the land. Through her art, she talks about important ideas such as Indigenous land rights, having control over one's own food (called food sovereignty), sharing knowledge, language, and protecting nature.
She has worked with another artist named Jeneen Frei Njootli on several projects. In 2018, Olivia Whetung wrote a piece called Fugitive Dust for Jeneen Frei Njootli's art show. Olivia Whetung also had her own art show called tibewh at Artspace in Peterborough, Ontario, in 2017.
Traveling Exhibitions
Olivia Whetung's art was part of a traveling show called Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts. This exhibition was put together by curators Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson. The show explored how art can help with decolonization, which means undoing the effects of colonization. The Soundings exhibition changed and grew as it moved to different places, adding new artists. It was shown at several galleries, including the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.
From 2019 to 2020, Olivia Whetung's solo exhibition, Sugarbush Shrapnel, was displayed at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia. In this show, she thought about her own connections to the natural world around her home on Chemong Lake, Ontario. She focused on how important it is for communities to control their own food and how delicate nature's balance is, especially with climate change. This exhibition later traveled to the Campbell River Art Gallery in late 2020.
Her work was also featured in a group exhibition called Beads, they’re sewn so tight. This show was curated by artist Lisa Myers. It was displayed at the Textile Museum of Canada and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in September 2019.
Awards and Recognition
In 2020, Olivia Whetung received the Emerging Artist Laureate Award from the Ontario Arts Council. This award celebrates new Indigenous artists and leaders in Ontario who have made important contributions to the arts.
She also won the John Hartman Award in 2018. This award is given by the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, Ontario.
