Curator and writer Jordan Wilson is currently a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at New York University. He is a member of the Musqueam First Nation, in what is presently known as Vancouver, British Columbia, and holds an MA in anthropology and a BA in Indigenous studies, both obtained at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prior to starting graduate studies, Wilson was a Curatorial Intern at UBC’s Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (2017-2018), where he contributed to the exhibition Beginning with the Seventies: Collective Acts (2018). Wilson’s current research examines the politics of Indigenous language revitalization, the legacies of anthropological collecting, the practices of collecting institutions, as well as questions concerning Indigenous sovereignty and settler colonialism. His curatorial practice often involves considering the forms of relationships contemporary Indigenous peoples maintain with their ancestral art, material culture, and immaterial heritage currently held by colonial institutions, and the potential of Indigenous art in the public realm. This work is informed by desires for structural change in institutions with regard to Indigenous representation and engagement, as well as a commitment to the well-being of his home community. Wilson was a co-curator of c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city (2015), an exhibition developed collaboratively with Musqueam; and the ongoing exhibition In a Different Light: Reflecting on Northwest Coast Art (2017) at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. His writing has appeared in Inuit Art Quarterly, The Capilano Review, Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, and Museum Worlds. He is also a co-author of Where the Power Is: Indigenous Perspectives on Northwest Coast Art (2021), which won the City of Vancouver Book Award in 2022.
Jordan Wilson
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