EMBASSY CULTURAL HOUSE
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Wanda Nanibush
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Wanda Nanibush is an Anishinaabe-kwe curator, image and word warrior and community organizer from Beausoleil First Nation, in Georgian Bay. Based in Toronto, Nanibush was the inaugural curator of Indigenous Art and co-lead of the Indigenous + Canadian Art Department at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

Nanibush did her undergraduate studies at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, where she overlapped with Tariq Gordon, Embassy Cultural House Managing Editor and Website Developer. They worked together on Arthur, Trent’s student newspaper. She went on to receive her M.A. in Visual Studies from University of Toronto where she has also taught graduate courses. She was the 2013 Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Visitor at University of Toronto. 

In 2017, she curated the ground-breaking exhibition Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971 - 1989 for the AGO and edited the accompanying exhibition publication in 2018. She curated the AGO's survey exhibition on Rebecca Belmore, Facing the Monumental (2019), which toured across Canada and the U.S. Other exhibitions include Rita Letendre: Fire & Light (AGO, 2017); Sovereign Acts (Multiple venues, 2012-2019); Nanabozho’s Sisters (Multiple venues, 2019);  Fifth World (multiple Venues, 2015); House of Wayward Spirits (Toronto, 2016); A Future Past (Michigan, New York, 2014); Mapping Resistances (Peterborough, 2010); Chronotopic Village (Modern Fuel, 2009).

Nanibush curated the exhibitions Shuvinai Ashoona Beyond the Visible (AGO, 2021); Rebecca Belmore Turbulent Water (Australia, 2021); and has ongoing exhibitions at the AGO including Karoo Ashevak, Michael Belmore, Peter Pitseolak and the J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous + Canadian Art. 

Nanibush's most recent exhibition Robert Houle Red is Beautiful, is a fifty-year retrospective which opened at the AGO on December 3, 2021 and has toured for two years in Canada and the USA. She also organized the third aabaakwad, a gathering of International Indigenous artists, curators and thinkers that moves around internationally. Nanibush founded aabaakwad in 2018 and presented the 2020 one at the Sydney Biennial, Australia. 

Nanibush is currently working on the book Violence No More: The Rise of Indigenous Women (in progress). Some of her works also include contributions to the books, Women in a Globalizing World: Equality, Development, Diversity and Peace and This is an Honour Song: Twenty Years since the Blockades. She co-edited York University’s InTensions journal on “The Resurgence of Indigenous Women’s Knowledge and Resistance in Relation to Land and Territoriality”, and the book The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement (Arp Press). In addition to articles in Aperture Magazine, Literary Review of Canada, Art in America, and Canadian Art, she has written numerous catalogue essays on Indigenous and Canadian artists. 

Nanibush is a sought-after commentator and change-maker for decolonizing and Indigenizing museums. This led the New York Times to call her "one of the most powerful voices for Indigenous culture in the North American art world.”

Exhibitions curated by Wanda:
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Rita Letendre. “Aforim", 1975. RITA LETENDRE: FIRE & LIGHT, AGO 2017. Curated by Wanda Nanibush.
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Jeff Thomas, “Bear Portrait, No.1, Culture Revolution", 1984. TORONTO: TRIBUTES + TRIBUTARIES, 1971-1989", AGO, September 2016 – May 2017. Curated by Wanda Nanibush.
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Rebecca Belmore, “Fringe, 2008". REBECCA BELMORE: FACING THE MONUMENTAL. AGO, 2018. Curated by Wanda Nanibush.


EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS 
 
Jamelie Hassan 
& Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Marnie Fleming, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou Smoke, and Lucas Stenning 

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & 
Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Jared Hendricks-Polack, Jessica Irene Joyce, Ira Kazi, 
Shelley Kopp, Jenna Rose Sands, Mireya Seymour, Venus Tsao, Diana Tamblyn, and Michelle Wilson. 

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

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OUR STORY
Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website. 

The Embassy Cultural House gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.
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The Embassy Cultural House is thankful for the mentorship program established by Western University's Visual Arts department and the continued support of the students and Faculty of Arts & Humanities.
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Our Partners

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E M B A S S Y  C U L T U R A L  H O U S E . C A

The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.

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  • Home
  • Recent News
  • Community
    • Advisors & Editorial Team
    • Contributors
    • Governor General Laureates
    • In Memoriam
  • Exhibitions
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Background
    • Past Programming >
      • Exhibitions 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Curators
        • Index of Photographers
        • Index of Visual Artists
      • Film 1983-1990
      • Music 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Musicians
      • Performances 1983-1990 >
        • Index of Performers
    • Embassy Hotel History
  • About