Jaimie Isaac is a curator and interdisciplinary artist, member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Treaty 1 Territory and is of mixed heritage. She is the Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria since September 2021, where she has curated Adorned and the Governor General Awards in the Visual and Media Arts 2021. Isaac is dedicated to making space for womxn, BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+ voices and decolonizing art and cultural institutions. She served as the Indigenous and Contemporary Arts at the Winnipeg Art Gallery for six years and has been in leadership positions in arts and cultural organizations as well as many independent projects. 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 has 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 team on a public sculpture at the Forks called Nimama at South Point path: Niizhoziibean and collaborated on a public art project, Cyclical Motion: Indigenous Art & Placemaking and a solo public art work; 8th and Final Fire at the Forks, Winnipeg, 2021. With published work, 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. Isaac has contributed to collections of writing within 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 and many forthcoming publications. In community, Jaimie was co-faculty for the Wood Land School at Plug In Summer Institute in 2016. She is the Advisory Committee for the Manitoba Museum and is on the board of directors for Bordercrossings Magazine and Trustee for the Sobey Art Foundation. 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.
