The Indigenous Speakers Series is honoured to present Greg Staats, winner of the 2024 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts (GGArts) and a 2024-25 Longhouse Labs Fellow here at the University of Waterloo.
A restorative aesthetic
Greg Staats is Skarù:reˀ [Tuscarora], Hodinöhsö:ni whose lens-based work combines language, mnemonics, and the natural world as an ongoing process of visualizing a Hodinohso:ni restorative aesthetic that defines relational multiplicities with condolence and renewal.
At this event, Greg will discuss his evolving methodology based on phenomena, lens-based issues and a lifelong practice focused on Hodinosho:ni imagery and the responsibilities to land body and memory. He will show selected images that identify key moments of movement over a 40-year career of exhibitions and sharing.
More about Greg Staats
Greg is a founding member of the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers' Association (NIIPA). He was awarded the 1999 Duke & Duchess of York Prize in Photography from the Canada Council for the Arts and, recently, the 2021 Toronto Arts Foundation’s Inaugural Indigenous Artist Award. Greg has had 17 solo national, regional and artist-run exhibitions, including at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 44 and the McMaster Museum of Art, as well as 16 group exhibitions, including at the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, in Sante Fe, USA, Mercer Union and the International Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. He has lectured extensively nationally, and his works are held within public, private and corporate collections. Greg has served as faculty for two Aboriginal Visual Arts Residencies at the Banff Centre. Greg Staats grew up on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ohsweken, and has resided in Toronto, Ontario, since 1986.
Watch the 2024 GGArts video about Greg Staats.
Please note: Registration is appreciated but not required. Everyone is welcome!
Photo courtesy of Greg Staats.
About Longhouse Labs
Longhouse Labs (LLabs) at the University of Waterloo builds capacity among Indigenous students and artists while integrating Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, traditions and leadership broadly within education. Located in East Campus Hall, LLabs includes a studio and gallery space, an archive, and soon, a garden for land-based learning. The Longhouse Labs Fellows visiting artist program is a central part of the project.
We gratefully acknowledge the 2024-25 Longhouse Labs Fellows supporters: K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation, Partners in Art, Rex Lingwood, TD Employees Endowment Fund held at the Waterloo Region Community Foundation.
Register to attend in-person or online
Watch past recordings from our Indigenous Speakers Series on YouTube.