Julie Nagam

Dr. Julie Nagam
NationalityCanadian
EducationYork University, Toronto, Ontario; University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Occupation(s)Associate Professor, Department of Art History, University of Winnipeg (2015-); Assistant Professor, Indigenous Visual Culture Program, OCAD (2009-2015).
TitleCanada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration and Digital Media
Websitehttps://glamcollective.ca https://aabijijiwanmedialab.ca

Dr. Julie Nagam is a scholar, artist, and curator based in Winnipeg, Canada.

Education

Nagam has a BA (Honours) in Women Studies and Art History and an MA in Native Studies from the University of Manitoba. She received a PhD in Social and Political Thought from York University.[citation needed] Her thesis “Alternative Cartographies: Grafting a New Route for Indigenous Stories of Place” was published in 2011.[1]

Career

Nagam's academic career began in 2009 at OCAD University where she worked as an assistant professor in Indigenous visual culture. In 2015, Nagam accepted a position as Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Winnipeg. Between 2015 and 2019, Nagam was the Research Chair of Indigenous Arts of North America, jointly appointed by the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the University of Winnipeg.[multiple citations needed] In 2019 Nagam was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration and Digital Media.[2] Nagam was the director of the Aabijijiwan New Media Lab and the co-director of the Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre.[3] She has been an adjunct faculty member at York University, University of Manitoba, and OCAD University.[4][5] She was a scholar in residence at Concordia University and Massey University.[citations needed]

Controversy

Dr. Nagam has claimed Métis, German and Syrian heritage, but the Winnipeg Free Press and Hamilton Spectator exposed her Pretendian ambitions, and the $18m she raised to support them, in August 2024.[6][7][8] Former students and colleagues reported the harm this caused to them and to their Indigenous cultures in the Brandon Sun.[9]

Research activities

Nagam’s research focused on Indigenous art and curatorial practices, theory, and methodologies. She was especially interested in public, digital, and new media art.

In 2020-2021, Nagam became Nuit Blanche Toronto’s inaugural Artistic Director.[10][11]Nagam was leading the partnership[12] "The space between us: Collaborations within Indigenous, Circumpolar and Pacific places through digital media", funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.[13][14] Nagam presented it as the inaugural artistic director for Nuit Blanche Toronto.[15] The theme "focuses on the connections across urban, polar and pacific landscapes revealing the space between us as a potential site for sharing knowledges."[16]

Edited journals, books and catalogues

  • Nagam, Julie, Carly Lane, and Megan Tamati-Quenell, eds. Becoming Our Future: Global Indigenous Curatorial Practice. ARP Books, 2020
  • Locating the Little Heartbeats. Julie Nagam solo exhibition. Winnipeg: Gallery C103, 2019. With a curatorial essay by Niigaan Sinclair
  • the future is in the land. Julie Nagam solo exhibition. Toronto: A-Space Gallery, 2018. With a curatorial essay by Cheryl L’Hirondelle
  • Nagam, Julie and Jaimie Issac, eds. INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2017
  • Nagam, Julie, Carla Taunton, and Heather Igloliorte, eds. PUBLIC Art, Culture, Ideas 54: Indigenous Art. Winter 2016

Articles and chapters

  • Nagam, Julie and Carla Taunton. “Performing Memory: Embodied Interventions by Indigenous Women Artists.” In Insiders/Outsiders: The Cultural Politics and Ethics of Indigenous Representation and Participation in Canada’s Media Arts, edited by Dana Claxton and Ezra Winton. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2019
  • Nagam, Julie. “Disruption Toronto’s Urban Space Through the Creative (In)terventions of Robert Houle.” In Εικόνα Visual Studies Vol 1. Mexico City: SIMO Cultura, 2019.
  • Nagan, Julie. “Traveling Soles: Tracing the Footprints of Our Stolen Sisters.” In Canadian Voices on Performance Studies/Theory, edited by Laura Levin and Marlis Schweitzer. Montreal: McGill-Queens Press, 2017.
  • Nagam, Julie. “Deciphering the Digital and Binary Codes of Sovereignty/Self-Determination and Recognition/Emancipation.” PUBLIC Art, Culture, Ideas 54: Indigenous Art. Edited by Heather Igloliorte, Julie Nagam, and Carla Taunton (Winter 2016).
  • Nagam, Julie, Heather Igloliorte, and Carla Taunton. “Transmissions: The Future Possibilities of Indigenous Digital and New Media Art.” PUBLIC Art, Culture, Ideas 54: Indigenous Art. Edited by Heather Igloliorte, Julie Nagam, and Carla Taunton (Winter 2016).
  • Nagam, Julie. “Mapping Stories of Place: An Alternative Cartography Through the Visual Narrative of Jeff Thomas.” In Diverse Spaces: Examining Identity, Heritage, and Community Within Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley. New York: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2013.
  • Nagam, Julie. “(Re)Mapping the Colonized Body: The Creative Interventions of Rebecca Belmore in the Cityscape.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 35, no. 4 (2011): 147–166.
  • Nagam, Julie. “Transforming & Grappling with Concepts of Activism and Feminism with Indigenous Women Artists.” Atlantis: A Women Studies Journal (Halifax: Mount Saint Vincent University, 2008).

Curatorial practice

In 2017, she co-curated the exhibition INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE with Indigenous artist/curator Jaimie Isaac. This was the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s largest ever exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art featuring works by 29 artists.[17][18] Nagam has worked with The Forks and the Winnipeg Foundation to curate a public art installation at Niizhoziibean.[19][20][21]

GLAM Collective

Nagam is a member of GLAM Collective, a group of scholars who work collaboratively “through theory, curatorial and artistic practices.”[22] With GLAM, Nagam co-curated a series of digital and new media incubators (Memory Keepers I, II, and III) for Indigenous artists, resulting in the installation of works at three Canadian night festivals in 2019.[23][24] That same year, she also co-curated gathering across moana with GLAM Collective. The exhibition brought together artists from the Pacific and Turtle Islands at Trinity Square Video in Toronto, Canada.[25]

Artistic practice

Nagam has exhibited her work internationally, including in Canada, United States, Brazil, France, New Zealand, and England. In 2019, her solo exhibition locating the little heartbeats was shown at Gallery 1C03 in Winnipeg and travelled to Te Whare Hera in Wellington, New Zealand. Nagam's work our future is in the land: if we listen to it was exhibited in the 2017 group show Transformers at the Smithsonian Museum in New York.[26] She has presented works at Nuit Blanche Toronto and has a received public art commission in Winnipeg.[27]

References

  1. ^ "PhD Alumni Profiles | Social and Political Thought | Faculty of Graduate Studies | York University". spth.gradstudies.yorku.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  2. ^ "UWinnipeg gets major investment in research excellence". University of Winnipeg | News Centre. 14 June 2019. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Directors". Aabijijiwan. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Faculty | Theatre & Performance Studies | Faculty of Graduate Studies | York University". theatre-studies.gradstudies.yorku.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  5. ^ "Julie Nagam | History of Art | The University of Winnipeg". www.uwinnipeg.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  6. ^ Posted, Maggie Macintosh (2024-08-22). "U of W prof accused of misrepresenting herself as Métis". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  7. ^ Posted, Maggie Macintosh (2024-08-22). "Academics, artists speaking out after University of Winnipeg professor's Métis identity questioned". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  8. ^ Press, Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Winnipeg Free (2024-08-22). "U of W prof, who's received millions in grants, accused of misrepresenting herself as Métis". The Hamilton Spectator. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2024-08-23.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Posted, Maggie Macintosh Local Journalism Initiative (2024-08-23). "'Do you want somebody like this … in your classroom?'". Brandon Sun. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  10. ^ "Artistic Director Julie Nagam". City of Toronto. 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  11. ^ "Dr. Julie Nagam is Nuit Blanche Toronto's artistic director | University of Winnipeg | News Centre". Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  12. ^ "The Space Between Us: Col(lab)orations Within Indigenous, Circumpolar and Pacific Places Through Digital Media and Design". Monash University. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  13. ^ "UWinnipeg receives SSHRC grants for research | University of Winnipeg | News Centre". Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  14. ^ "thespacebetweenus". thespacebetweenus. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  15. ^ "Artistic Director Julie Nagam". City of Toronto. 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  16. ^ "Artistic Director Julie Nagam". City of Toronto. 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  17. ^ Nixon, Lindsay; Benesiinaab, Scott; an; Arc, Joi T.; Bennett, Jordan; Barsy, Dee. "Our Languages Live Within Us". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  18. ^ "Winnipeg Art Gallery hosts groundbreaking Indigenous exhibit". CJOB. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  19. ^ "Electrical Currents | The Winnipeg Arts Council". winnipegarts.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  20. ^ "Niizhoziibean: Honouring our Indigenous heritage". www.theforks.com. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  21. ^ Kives, Bartley. "'This is just the right time': The Forks plans indigenous makeover at south point". CBC Manitoba. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  22. ^ "Keep Art Going After Nocturne". Nocturne Halifax. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  23. ^ "Keep Art Going After Nocturne". Nocturne Halifax. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  24. ^ August 2019, Arts / (2019-08-13). "Memory Keepers II". The Buzz. Retrieved 2020-04-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ "EXHIBITIONS: gathering across moana". Trinity Square Video.
  26. ^ "Transformer: Julie Nagam". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  27. ^ "Electrical Currents | The Winnipeg Arts Council". winnipegarts.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-21.