Photo credit: Kikki Guerard
JR Sutherland or Julia Rose Sutherland
juliarosesutherland.com@gmail.com
@Julia.rose.sutherland (Instagram)
Artist Bio:
Julia Rose Sutherland (She/They) is a storyteller, interdisciplinary artist, and associate professor at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. She is a half-settler and half-Indigenous and is a citizen of the Mi’kmaq (Metepenagiag Nation).
Sutherland earned their MFA in studio arts (Interdisciplinary) from the University at Buffalo (2019) and a BFA (craft and new media) from Alberta College of Art + Design (2013). With a foundation in craft, new media, and sculpture, Sutherland's work spans diverse media and thematic concerns, exploring identity, cultural memory, and the politics of representation.
Notable solo exhibitions include “NISSING” at The New Gallery in Calgary (2023-24), “TIME OF ACQUIRING LEARNING” at The New Gallery (2022), “Flesh Economics” (after hours) at WAAP Gallery (2020) and “Ango'tg” at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo (2019). Their work has also been featured in group exhibitions such as “In Parallel” at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (2023), “LAND BACK” at the Contemporary Native Art Biennial in Montreal (2022), and “Bodies In Conflict” at The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (2021).
Sutherland's art has been included in key exhibitions like”_other tongues part I communication” at Onsite gallery, (2024) “DesignTO Festival, Future Matters” (2024), “Art Toronto” (2023 & 2021, “In parallel” at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (2023), “Bodies In Conflict,” The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (2021) and “Touching Earth and Sky.” Mackenzie Gallery, Regina, SK (2021). She has also participated in international exhibitions and performances, including “I am my body, I am my memory” in Paris (2020), “Brought to Light: The Epidemic of Violence against Native and Indigenous Women.” at K Art, Buffalo, NY (2021) and “All Together, Amongst Many: Reflections on Empathy,” BEMIS Centre, Omaha (2021).
She has been recognized through several awards and grants, including the Art Rights Truth: Conversations with Reports, Collaboration with the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR). University of York, the Canada Council for the Arts Grant for Small-Scale Activities (2024 and 2021) and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (2021). Sutherland was recently an artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts (2024) and has previously held residencies at the BEMIS Center for Contemporary Arts (2021), Women’s Center of Calgary AIR (2020), Tsinghua University in Beijing (2018) and Headlands Center for the Arts (2024).
Sutherland’s work has been featured in publications such as Room Magazine (2024) and Esse Magazine (2022) and was featured on the cover and interviewed for the book “Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in the Classroom” (2022), and they were also the winner of the SAAG (Southern Alberta Art Gallery) 2019 Writing prize. She actively engages in public dialogue through lectures, workshops and panels, including recent talks at the University of Toronto (2024), Emerson College (2023) and Weber State University (2022).
Statement:
Her work draws from personal experience, Indigenous knowledge, and material traditions to consider the lasting effects of colonialism on Indigenous lives, communities, and relationships to land.
Working across sculpture, performance, photography, textiles, and installation, Sutherland addresses questions of value, representation, and cultural inheritance. Her practice moves between histories of dispossession and the persistence of Indigenous knowledge, highlighting both the ongoing impacts of colonial structures and the strength of Indigenous communities.
Health, grief, memory, and intergenerational experience are recurring concerns within the work. Rather than treating these subjects as isolated social issues, Sutherland considers them within broader histories of land displacement, economic inequality, and cultural disruption. At the same time, her work makes space for renewal, humour, beauty, and the continued vitality of Indigenous cultural practices.
Julia Rose Sutherland (She/They) is a storyteller, interdisciplinary artist, and associate professor at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. She is a half-settler and half-Indigenous and is a citizen of the Mi’kmaq (Metepenagiag Nation).
Sutherland earned their MFA in studio arts (Interdisciplinary) from the University at Buffalo (2019) and a BFA (craft and new media) from Alberta College of Art + Design (2013). With a foundation in craft, new media, and sculpture, Sutherland's work spans diverse media and thematic concerns, exploring identity, cultural memory, and the politics of representation.
Notable solo exhibitions include “NISSING” at The New Gallery in Calgary (2023-24), “TIME OF ACQUIRING LEARNING” at The New Gallery (2022), “Flesh Economics” (after hours) at WAAP Gallery (2020) and “Ango'tg” at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo (2019). Their work has also been featured in group exhibitions such as “In Parallel” at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (2023), “LAND BACK” at the Contemporary Native Art Biennial in Montreal (2022), and “Bodies In Conflict” at The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (2021).
Sutherland's art has been included in key exhibitions like”_other tongues part I communication” at Onsite gallery, (2024) “DesignTO Festival, Future Matters” (2024), “Art Toronto” (2023 & 2021, “In parallel” at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (2023), “Bodies In Conflict,” The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (2021) and “Touching Earth and Sky.” Mackenzie Gallery, Regina, SK (2021). She has also participated in international exhibitions and performances, including “I am my body, I am my memory” in Paris (2020), “Brought to Light: The Epidemic of Violence against Native and Indigenous Women.” at K Art, Buffalo, NY (2021) and “All Together, Amongst Many: Reflections on Empathy,” BEMIS Centre, Omaha (2021).
She has been recognized through several awards and grants, including the Art Rights Truth: Conversations with Reports, Collaboration with the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR). University of York, the Canada Council for the Arts Grant for Small-Scale Activities (2024 and 2021) and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (2021). Sutherland was recently an artist-in-residence at Headlands Center for the Arts (2024) and has previously held residencies at the BEMIS Center for Contemporary Arts (2021), Women’s Center of Calgary AIR (2020), Tsinghua University in Beijing (2018) and Headlands Center for the Arts (2024).
Sutherland’s work has been featured in publications such as Room Magazine (2024) and Esse Magazine (2022) and was featured on the cover and interviewed for the book “Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in the Classroom” (2022), and they were also the winner of the SAAG (Southern Alberta Art Gallery) 2019 Writing prize. She actively engages in public dialogue through lectures, workshops and panels, including recent talks at the University of Toronto (2024), Emerson College (2023) and Weber State University (2022).
Statement:
Her work draws from personal experience, Indigenous knowledge, and material traditions to consider the lasting effects of colonialism on Indigenous lives, communities, and relationships to land.
Working across sculpture, performance, photography, textiles, and installation, Sutherland addresses questions of value, representation, and cultural inheritance. Her practice moves between histories of dispossession and the persistence of Indigenous knowledge, highlighting both the ongoing impacts of colonial structures and the strength of Indigenous communities.
Health, grief, memory, and intergenerational experience are recurring concerns within the work. Rather than treating these subjects as isolated social issues, Sutherland considers them within broader histories of land displacement, economic inequality, and cultural disruption. At the same time, her work makes space for renewal, humour, beauty, and the continued vitality of Indigenous cultural practices.