Jessica Karuhanga is a Canadian Ugandan-British artist whose work addresses issues of cultural politics of identity and Black diasporic concerns through lens-based technologies, writing, drawing and lyrical performances. Through her practice she explores individual and collective concerns of Black subjectivity - illness, rage, grief, desire and longing within the context of Black embodiment.
She has presented her work at SummerWorks Lab, Toronto (2020), The Bentway, Toronto (2019), Nuit Blanche, Toronto (2018), Onsite Gallery, Toronto (2018), Museum London, London (2018), and Goldsmiths, London, UK (2017). Her writing has been published by C Magazine, BlackFlash, Susan Hobbs Gallery and Fonderie Darling. She has been featured in AGO's Artist Spotlight, i-D, DAZED, Visual Aids, Border Crossings, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, filthy dreams, Globe and Mail and Canadian Art. She earned her BFA from Western University and MFA from University of Victoria. She lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
PRESS
2020
Feature, Winnipeg's WNDX Festival of Moving Image Details 2020 Edition, Exclaim!
Feature, Artist Spotlight, Art Gallery of Ontario
2019
Review, Queer Arts Festival's show Relational rEvolutions questions the future by Alexander Varty, The Georgia Straight
Feature, the new new york, i-D
2018
Feature, Six Toronto artists pushing their city into a more progressive future, by Ashleigh Kane, DAZED
Feature, 5 best bets at Nuit Blanche, by Murray Whyte, Toronto Star
Column, McMichael gallery showcases archive of Canadian hip-hop culture, by Chris Hampton, The Globe and Mail
Review, Exhibits prob identity and vices, by Joe Belanger, The London Free Press
Review, Seeds of discontent at OCAD nature-derived art show, by Murray Whyte, Toronto Star
Review, The Sunshine Eaters, by Liz Ikirko, PUBLIC
Review, The Sunshine Eaters, by Anna Kovler, Border Crossings
2017
Feature, 10 Artists Who Are Taking Care, by Amber Berson, Canadian Art Magazine
Review, all our days are full of breath: a record of momentum, by Coman Poon, C Magazine
Feature, by Adam Barbu, esse magazine
2016
Feature, Art and HIV: This powerful public poster series is challenging how we look at the virus, by Theodore Kerr, CBC Arts
Column, Dead Tired Of Being So Bloody Positive: PosterVirus Reflects AIDS Activism Now, by Emily Colucci, filthy dreams
Interview, A Conversation with Jessica Karuhanga, by Luther Konadu, Public Parking
Interview, A Conversation with Jessica Karuhanga, by Heather-Campos Castillo, Heart-Beats
Review, The Artists Newsstand, by Emily Fitzpatrick, C Magazine
Archives Matter - Goldsmiths University
Column, PosterVirus 2016, Visual Aids
2015
Interview, Tribal Dances of the Black Female Body, by Kofi Fosu Forson ARMSEYE
EXHIBITIONS
2022
From Remote Stars: Buckminster Fuller, London, and Speculative Futures, Museum London, Canada
2021
Gardenship, Museum London, Canada
2020
Emotional Landscapes, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Canada
2019
Undercurrents, The Bentway, Toronto, Canada
Ground, Sheridan Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Relational Revolutions, Queer Arts Festival, Vancouver, Canada
2018
I continue to shape, Art Museum at University of Toronto
our roots are here, amongst the grasses, Y+contemporary, Toronto, Canada
Inscapes, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Canada
Sunshine Eaters, Onsite Gallery, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
Embodiment, Museum London, Canada
2017
all our days are full of breath: a record of momentum, Art Museum at University of Toronto, Canada
WARNING! Mind the Gap, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2016
Pixelation, Artscape Youngplace, Toronto, Canada
Finishing Lines, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada
2015
25 Multiples Toward a Past and Future, Deluge Contemporary Art, Victoria, Canada
Truth be Told, YBT Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2014
Exposed, Nia Centre for the Arts, Toronto, Canada
11:45, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, Canada
It wasn't Supposed to be this way, Videofag, Toronto, Canada
PERFORMANCES
2019
#Carefree, Long Winter, Toronto, Canada
2018
#Carefree, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
2017
(Featured Performer) Lido Pimienta, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
(Featured Performer) Lido Pimienta, Polaris Prize, Toronto, Canada
ground and cover me, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, Canda
through a brass channel, Art Museum at University of Toronto, Canada
ground and cover me, OCAD University, Toronto ON
2016
(Featured Performer) Ame Henderson and Evan Webber’s performance encyclopedia, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
#Carefree, ASSEMBLÉE, Studio 303, Montreal, Canada
#Carefree, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Carefree, Fine and Mellow, Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Canada
A Still Cling To Fading Blossoms, Goldsmiths, London, UK
(Featured Performer) Christof Migone’s Mixer, The Royal Conservatory,Toronto, Canada
Boom Aura, DOORED 24, DoubleDouble Land, Toronto, Canda
Shade Shadow Spectre, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada
A Still Cling To Fading Blossoms, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2014
Bone Black Dust and Sky Lickers, The Drake Hotel,Toronto, Canada
A Still Cling To Fading Blossoms, Electric Eclectics Festival, Meaford, Canada
The trip, the fall, and the lost heap of longing, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, Canada
(Featured Performer) Brendan Fernandes’ Closing Line, Chance Motives, SculptureCentre, New York, NY
CURATION
2018
Ineffable Blaze (Trinity Square Video, Toronto ON)
with Kiera Boult, Jazmine VK Carr, Danièle Dennis, Dainesha Nugent-Palache,
Marcelline Mandeng, Aurel Haize-Odogbo and Jared Brown
EVENTS
2019
Panelist: Mystique Afrique (Africa Salon, United Kingdom)
Panelist: TIFF Transforms: International Women's Day (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada)
2018
The Uknown and Unknowable: A Conversation between Jessica Karuhanga and Nehal El-Hadi (Trinity Square Video, Canada)
Panelist: Been Here So Long (The Art Gallery of Peterbrorough, Canada)
Lecture: Western University's ART NOW Series (Museum London, Canada)
2017
Panelist: Remembrance and Difference (The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada)
Panelist: Tender Skeletons (Art Museum at University of Toronto, Canada)
Panelist: Working with Dancers in Contemporary Art Space (Blackwood Gallery, U of T Mississauga, Canada)
Moderator: The Un-Othered Body, curated by Esmaa Mohamoud (OCAD University, Toronto, Canada)
Panelist: Conversations about FORCE, organized by C Magazine (Gallery TPW, Toronto, Canada)
2015
Panelist: In Conversation: Her Hustle, moderated by Ariella Starkman (Soho House, Toronto, Canada)
Lecture: Worn Dialogues: Gallery Conversations (The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada)
Panelist: Exploring Black Feminine Identity (The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada)
Panelist: Black Portraitures Conference Series (Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Florence IT)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2020
Part-time Lecturer, Technology, Identity and Creativity, School of Media, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Part-time Lecturer, New Media Thesis Project, School of Media, Ryerson University, Toronto
2016 - 2020
Sessional Professor, Performance Art, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto, Canada
Sessional Professor, Curation: Nature & Culture, Curatorial, Criticism and Curatorial Practices, Faculty of Art, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2017 - 2020
Board of Directors, Gallery TPW, Toronto, Canada
2019
Sessional Professor, Museum Studies, Curatorial, Criticism and Curatorial Practices, Faculty of Art, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2018 - 2019
Sessional Professor, Foundations Studies in Studio, Department of Art, Culture and Media, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Canada
2015
Curatorial Assistant, Onsite Gallery at OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
JURIES
2019
Juror: Animating Toronto Parks Grant, Toronto Arts Council
2017
Juror: Visual Arts Creation Projects Grant, Ontario Arts Council
2016
Juror: Level One: Emerging Artists Grant, Toronto Arts Council
AWARDS + GRANTS
2017
Toronto Arts Council, Emerging Media Artist Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Culturally Diverse Curatorial Projects Grant
2016
Ontario Arts Council, Visual Arts: Emerging Grant
2015
Toronto Arts Council, Emerging Visual Artist Grant
WRITING
2019
Essay, Guillaume Adjutor Provost, Monograph, Fonderie Darling
2018
Feature, FrameWork 5/18: Oliver Husain, Susan Hobbs Gallery
2017
Feature, Kapwani Kiwanga, BlackFlash Magazine
2016
Review, Simone Leigh: The Waiting Room, New Museum, C Magazine
Column, Artefact: Francisco-Fernando Granados, C Magazine
RESIDENCIES
2021
M:ST 10 Biennale in partnership with RAVY Biennale, Yaoundé, Cameroon
2020
Open Performance, Movement Research, New York NY
SummerWorks Lab Residencies, Toronto, Canada
The Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency, Toronto, Canada
2017
7a*md8 On-line Residency in partnership with Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Canada
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, Canada
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Western University, Canada