Aylan Couchie

Assistant Professor

Building HW 426

Program

Media and New Media Studies

Biography

Aylan Couchie (she/her) is a Nishnaabekwe interdisciplinary artist, curator and writer hailing from Nipissing First Nation. She is a NSCAD University alumna and received her M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design at OCAD University where she focused her thesis on reconciliation and its relationship to monument and public art. She’s currently in her fourth year of study at Queen’s University where she’s working on her Ph.D in the Cultural Studies program researching areas of land+language+Indigenous placemaking through mapping, naming, digital public art and gaming. Her research-based practice explores the intersections of colonial/First Nations histories of place, culture and Indigenous erasure as well as issues of (mis)representation and cultural appropriation. She’s been the recipient of several awards including an “Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture” award through the International Sculpture Centre and a Premier’s Award through Ontario Colleges. Most recently, she was chosen by Queen’s University as their nominee for the 2023 SSHRC Talent Award. She previously taught at OCAD University in the School of Graduate Studies and the Indigenous Visual Culture (INVC) program. She splits her time living and working between her home community of Nipissing First Nation in Northern Ontario and Tsi Tkarón:to.

Education

Ph.D (ABD/in-progress), Cultural Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
M.F.A., Interdisciplinary Art, Media & Design, OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario
B.F.A., Sculpture & Installation, NSCAD University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Fine Arts Advanced Diploma, Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario
Art and Design Fundamentals Certificate, Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario

Teaching Interests

Indigenous Digital Art and New Media, Indigenous Art History, Indigenous Social Justice and Politics, Contemporary Indigenous Visual Art, Sculpture and Installation, Studio Arts

Research Interests

Artificial Intelligence, Gaming, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR/XR), Internet History and Culture, Technology and New Media, Indigenous Placemaking, Public Art & Monument

Awards anf Grants

Graduate Research Fellowship, Pluriversal Worlding with XR 2024, Queen’s University & York University
Queen’s University Nominee, 2023 SSHRC Talent Award, Canada
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada
Robert Sutherland Fellowship, Queen’s University, Kingston ON
Tri-Agency Recipient Recognition Award (TARRA), Queen’s University, Kingston ON
SSHRC Connections Grant (Co-Applicant), Place-based reparative environmental histories: Symposium 2.0, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON
Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design Interdisciplinarity Award, OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario
2016 Premier’s Award, Recent Graduate, Ontario Colleges, ON
Barbara Laronde Award, Native Women In The Arts, Toronto, ON
Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, International Sculpture Center, Hamilton, NJ

Exhibitions, Curatorial and Public Art Installations

2024 – Survival of the Fittest, Solo Exhibition, Campus Gallery, Georgian College, Barrie ON
2024 – as the tongue slips, Durham Art Gallery, Durham, ON
2023 – Singing Mother Earth, Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA): Busan, Busan, South Korea
2023 – mmaandaawaabi, Co-curator with Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning and Nasrin Himada, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, ON
2023 – in parallel, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto ON
2022 – every answer is correct, (EY Building) The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto ON
2020 – maawandoobiwag Public Art Installation, Pratt Homes, Barrie, ON
2020 – Barbara Laronde Exhibition, Toronto Media Art Centre, Toronto ON
2019 – [in]Sites, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2019 – Listen to the Land (with Placeholders Collective), Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON
2019 – waabandiwag, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, ON
2019 – niigaanikwewag, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
2018-19 – Overlay of the Land/Land Is Where Your Feet Touch the Ground, Critical Distance Gallery, ASpace Gallery, Onsite Gallery, Toronto, ON
2018 – From Food to Monument: Northern Retellings, Quest Art, Midland, ON
2018 – Settling in Place, MacLaren Art Gallery, Barrie, ON
2018 – Jessie Oonark (works from the permanent collection), Curator, Bovey Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2018 – now is the time to see the truth, site specific installation on Lake Nipissing (sponsored by White Water Gallery), Ice Follies, North Bay, ON
2017 – Tonight’s Special: Bannock, Mille-Feuille and Berries, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON
2016 – Wake the Town and Tell The People, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL
2016 – The Mush Hole Project, Woodlands Cultural Centre, Brantford, ON
2016 – Wake the Town and Tell The People, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
2015 – H.I.O. Big Chiefs, Pratt Homes, Barrie, ON
2015 – 21st Annual ISC Outstanding Student Achievement Awards in Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

Publications

Couchie, Aylan. “We Didn’t Know the Monument Was So Important Until Someone Said It Should Be Removed.” C Magazine, Summer 2019.
Couchie, Aylan. “’Zeal Without Wisdom’: Rushing for Reconciliation.” C Magazine, Fall 2018. .
Couchie, Aylan. “Layers Over Layers.” In The Unpublished City: Volume II Essays, edited by Phoebe Wang, Canisia Lubrin, and Dionne Brand, 33–36. Canada: Book Hug, 2018.
Couchie, Aylan. “Very Fine People on Both Sides.” Master’s Thesis, OCAD University, 2018. .
Couchie, Aylan, and Ian Mosby. “Anti-Seal Hunt Rhetoric Ignores Facts and Suppresses Indigenous Culture.” The Globe and Mail, October 12, 2017.
Couchie, Aylan. “Let’s Start with What Cultural Appropriation Is Not.” Global News, May 19, 2017. .
Couchie, Aylan. “Returning Our Voices to Us: The Recent Debate about Cultural Appropriation Shows That True Reconciliation Is Not about Saying Sorry, It’s about Listening to Indigenous Voices.” Policy Options, May 16, 2017. .
Couchie, Aylan. “When Textbooks Are Held Within Forest Floors.” ArtsEverywhere, 2017. .

Affiliations

Committee Member, Nipissing FN Language & Culture Committee, Nipissing First Nation ON
Director General, Native Women in the Arts, Toronto ON

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