Jaimie Isaac is a curator and interdisciplinary artist, Anishinabe member of Sagkeeng First Nation and is of mixed heritage. She was the Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria from 2021-2023, where she curated several shows; Adorned and the Governor General Awards in the Visual and Media Arts 2021 and Symbiosis (co-curated) and was dedicated to support making space for womxn, BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+ voices and continues to work on projects and ways to decolonize art and cultural institutions. She served as the Curator of Contemporary and Indigenous Arts at the Winnipeg Art Gallery for six years and has been in leadership positions in arts and cultural organizations and has mentored emerging curators in the field. Isaac holds a degree in Art History From University of Winnipeg and a Masters of Arts from the University of British Columbia focused on decolonizing gallery/museum practices. Exhibitions curated at the Winnipeg Art Gallery were Nahdohbii: To Draw Water (an international touring co-curated Triennial), Born In Power, subsist (co-curated), ᐃ (co-curated), Behind Closed Doors, organic, Insurgence Resurgence (co-curated) and Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant, Boarder X (National tour), We Are On Treaty Land, and Quiyuktchigaewin; Making Good, and in her tenure there managed touring shows, initiated many dynamic and sustained partnerships and programming.
Artistically, Isaac co-founded The Ephemerals Collective, which was long-listed for the 2017 and 2019 Sobey Art Award. Collectively and independently, she has exhibited and presented work internationally. Jaimie collaborated with an artistic teams on public art sculptures at the Forks called Nimama at South Point path: Niizhoziibean and Cyclical Motion: Indigenous Art & Placemaking at the University of Manitoba. She designed a solo public art work; 8th and Final Fire at the Forks, Winnipeg, 2021 and solo exhibition, Brings to Light at the 1co3, 2022, and a featured artist with the 2023 Nuit Blanche Festival in Winnipeg. With published work, Isaac has contributed to scholarly collections of writing within the textbooks The Routledge Companion to Indigenous Art Histories in the United States and Canada, the Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Iniut and Metis Peoples' Health in Canada: Chapter 13 Taking Care: Indigenous Peoples' Art, Resurgence and Wellness, The Land We Are Now: Writers and Artists Unsettle the Politics of Reconciliation, West Coast Line 74 and Public 54: Indigenous Art: New Media and the Digital Journal. Jaimie has contributed articles and features for Art + Wonder, C Magazine, Bordercrossings, and essays for exhibition catalogues; Insurgence Resurgence, Boarder X, Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, and unsacred.
In community, Jaimie was co-faculty for the Wood Land School at Plug In Summer Institute in 2016. She is a Curatorial Advisor for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Manitoba Museum and is on the board of directors for Bordercrossings Magazine and Trustee for the Sobey Art Foundation and Scholar in Residence for the 7 Oaks School Division. Jaimie is an honouree for Leaders of Tomorrow from the Manitoba Museum 50th Tribute Awards 2020, CBC Future 40 Finalist and the Canadian Museums Association recipient for an outstanding achievement award in exhibitions category with the Boarder X exhibition, 2021.