David Garneau Visual Artist, Curator, Critical Art Writer 
Regina, Saskatchewan
Video by Aaron Zeghers

David Garneau is a Métis painter, curator, and critical art writer interested in creative expressions of Indigenous contemporary ways of being. He is Head of the Visual Arts Department at the University of Regina. Garneau recently curated Kahwatsiretátie: The Contemporary Native Art Biennial (Montréal, 2020) with assistance from Faye Mullen and rudi aker, and co-curated Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound, at the National Museum of the American Indian, New York City (2017), with Kathleen Ash Milby. Garneau has given keynotes in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and throughout Canada on issues such as misappropriation, reconciliation, public art, museum displays and Indigenous contemporary art. His paintings are in numerous public and private collections. David Garneau lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

“Unobstructed by Western notions of expertise, David has refused a singular professional identity in his work as an artist, a critical writer and theorist, curator, educator, and in cultural policy. His multi-modal work is characterized by earnest inquiry; fearless testing of original principles and practices; and deep connections across communities. His drive is dedicated towards understanding and creating new ways to understand the visual arts of Métis and Indigenous peoples in settler colonial contexts, and he has been a key figure in the groundswell of creative, critical, and curatorial activity across Turtle Island over the past decades.”

Nominators: Risa Horowitz, visual and media artist, Associate Professor, Department of Visual Arts, University of Regina, and Mary-Beth Laviolette, Independent Writer and Curator

“His multi-modal work is characterized by earnest inquiry; fearless testing of original principles and practices; and deep connections across communities.”