Up Front: Inuit Public Art @ Onsite Gallery (Jessica Winters)

Up Front: Inuit Public Art @ Onsite Gallery (Jessica Winters)

January to April 2024
Onsite Gallery, OCAD University, Toronto ON

Inuit Futures alumni, Jessica Winters’ mural Hopedale is currently on display at Onsite Gallery’s exterior façade from January to April 2024.

Hopedale was jointly commissioned by Bonavista Biennale 2023, the Inuit Art Foundation, Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project, and Onsite Gallery at OCAD University. First exhibited at the Bonavista Biennale 2023, Hopedale, celebrates the land and people that build the foundation of home, the space that provides a depth of sustenance, responsibility and enduring connections.

She says, “Every time I return to Nunatsiavut from the south, I can find something special about the place and the people that I took for granted as a kid growing up immersed in that life. It often feels like I am seeing something for the first time again.”

Inuk artist Jessica Winters is a painter, biologist and curator raised in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut and is currently based in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her work focuses on translating seemingly regular instances of Inuit life into something provoking and nostalgic. In her paintings, she draws upon vivid memories, intense curiosity and lived experiences detailing deep connections to place and community. Winters says, “my work is a deeply profound response to my culture, my family and the land that nurtures us.”

About Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery

In partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation (IAF), Onsite Gallery presents Up Front, a series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists. Onsite Gallery recognizes the important contributions of the Inuit art sector and is pleased to work with the IAF to support Inuit art and artists in the public realm.