"For Us, This Is Just a Part of Our Life."

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By Michelle Cyca

Posted on October 26, 2018 | Updated August 06, 2019, 9:07am

A profile of Sobey Art Award finalist and ECU alumna Jeneen Frei Njootli from the National Gallery of Canada.

2018 Sobey Art Award finalist and ECU alumna Jeneen Frei Njootli (BFA 2012) was profiled by the National Gallery of Canada. Her work, along with that of the four other finalists, in the Sobey Art Award Exhibition, which opens this week in Ottawa.

The profile explores her multidisciplinary practice, which includes performance, sound, and textile.

In terms of when did my art practice take shape, if art is just part of our lives, then it has always been in the making. My family on my father’s side are all incredible makers. I was stitched into clothing as a kid by my mom. All of these things shape us.”

Jeneen Frei Njootli

The Sobey Art Award is the country's largest prize for young Canadian artists, granted annually to one artist under 40. One finalist is selected from five geographic regions in Canada; Jeneen, who was born in Whitehorse and is based in Vancouver, represents BC/Yukon. The winner of the 2018 award will be announced on November 14.

Read the full interview on the National Gallery of Canada website.

About Jeneen Frei Njootli

Jeneen Frei Njootli is a Vuntut Gwitchin artist and co-creator of the ReMatriate Collective. Based between the Yukon and unceded coast Salish territories in Vancouver, Frei Njootli works primarily in sound-based performances. Frequently giving free workshops, her community-engaged practice focuses on visual Indigenous sovereignty and relationships with land. She speaks about Bushed Theories in the 2016 Spring issue of American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

Frei Njootli has presented internationally on her work and has exhibited recently at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Southern Manitoba and Macaulay & Co Fine Arts in Vancouver. She is currently being mentored by Lorraine Netro to advocate for the permanent protection of the Porcupine Caribou Herd’s calving grounds, located in the north-western corner of Alaska. A herd that the border spanning Gwich’in Nation have had a relationship with for over 20,000 years.

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