Platform, 2008, mixed media, Sydney College of the Arts Gallery, 3m x 4m approx. Photo:Peter Endersbee. Image subject to Copyright.

 

NEWS

Short listed public art commission, UofT, Toronto, Canada


Battle of the Majestic Beings, Opening July 18th, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Vancouver, Canada

For the love of petroleum, Opening Saturday July 20th, 3-5pm, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney, Australia, Exhibition runs til August 4, 2024


52 Artists 52 Actions (curated by Talia Linz, Artspace), Gladstone Regional Gallery, Gladstone, Queensland


Limited Edition artist's perfume of the Four Directions, 2022, available at The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada or email me for orders in Sydney, Australia


July 2024 Socially Engaged Workshops Seaton House, Public Art, Commissioned, George Street Public Art, Toronto, Canada, 2022-2024

 

 BIOGRAPHY


Rolande (Wassay) Souliere became a visual artist after moving to Sydney in the late 1990s and enrolling in a BVA at Sydney College of the Arts. Prior to this, Souliere's artistic expression was embedded in her Anishinaabe culture where she learned many aspects of her culture by attending, as child and up to her teens, a First Nations afterschool program, sponsored by the Canadian government. This experience is ingrained in Souliere's work, where repetitive processes of wrapping, weaving, stacking, stitching and layering, and the use of tactile and colourful materials are utilised to address the social, political, and cultural aspects of Indigeneity internationally and globally.

Souliere's interest in this position stems from the concept of the transnational - a way of understanding art that encourages the idea that art and its histories are interconnected beyond its point of origin. Her unique position of working on Gadigal Land of the Eora Nation (Sydney, Australia), traveling several times a year to Turtle Island (North America) to participating in exhibitions, working with communities and visiting family, situate her within an interconnectedness of contemporary art, Indigenous cultures and communities: This unique situation provides a long-term and continual ideological engagement with Indigenous alliances on a transnational scale.

Souliere's technique combines abstraction and the assisted readymade with handmade processes to discuss Indigenous narratives internationally. Construction road tape, reflective road signage, automible headlights and brake lights, variable message boards, construction road materials and household items are her trademarks. These universal materials are stripped from their usual context, manipulated and repurposed into dynamic installations.

In 2021, Artspace Sydney commissioned her for "52 Artists 52 Actions" and she is also included in the group exhibition "States of Collapse" at Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Canada.  In 2020, The Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver and Translink BC commissioned her for three large scaled site specific temporary public art works including a double length public transportation bus.  Other permanent and temporary public art commissions include "Indigenous Womxn Banner Project", 2019, Mediating the Treaties (2017-2018) by The City of Winnipeg and Bringing Back Wabakinine, (2015) commissioned by the City of Toronto, Canada.

Socially engaged art is also part of Souliere's art practice. She has worked with several Indigenous communities, with Tlacolulokos Collective in Mexico (2021), in North America and Australia on her Collage of Indigenization social art project (2013-2018) and an international street project, Coyote Responds: I like America and America likes me, (2016-2018) in Toronto, Berlin, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Sydney for Or Gallery, Berlin.

Souliere's Phd titled Toward an Indigenous History: Indigenous Art Practices from Contemporary Australia and Canada was well received as providing expert knowledge (both practically and scholarly) in the field of Indigeneity in a contemporary international context. The study was rooted in contemporary art theory that deployed a transnational and transcultural approach.  This approach highlighted the striking parallels between First Peoples' colonial histories and visual art practices in the context of two settler-colonial states: Australia and Canada.

Souliere is Anishinaabe, member of Michipicoten First Nation, born and raised in Toronto, Canada and an Australian citizen, she works between Australia and Canada. Souliere has a Phd, MVA and BVA from Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney. 


CV 

Education
2013-2017 Doctorate of Philosophy (Phd), Visual Arts, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
2005-2006 Masters of Visuals Arts (Painting), Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
2000-2004 Bachelor of Visual Arts, Honours (Painting), Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 Battle of the Majestic Beings, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Vancouver, Canada
2024 Artist in Residence, Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver, Canada
2021 Slangsextalkdrugsandotherrelatedmatters, Schmick Contemporary, Sydney, NSW
2019 Form and Content II, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada
2019 Frequent Stopping Part V and VI, Contemporary Art Gallery (curated by Kimberly Phillips), Vancouver, Canada
2017-18 Form and Content, (curated by Manuela Well Off Man), IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Sante Fe, New Mexico
2017 Coyote Responds: I Like America and America Likes Me, (curated by Jonathan Middleton), Or Gallery, Vancouver, Toronto and Berlin
2011 CrossRoads, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg, Canada
2010 I am JUST not that good at following directions, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada
2009 GPS-(The Good Red Road), Peloton, Sydney, NSW
2008 Materiality and Otherness, Grunt Gallery (curated by Daina Warren), Vancouver, Canada
2007 Binessiwags in Da House, Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, NSW
2007

Connections/Disconnections, Firstdraft, Sydney, NSW

2005 Materiality, Exit gallery, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
2004 Bahn Trang, Space 3, Sydney, NSW
2003 Transformation of the Abject into Beauty, newspace, Sydney, NSW

 

Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 For the love of petroleum, (curated by Lucy Merrett), Chrissie Cotter, Sydney, Australia
2024 52 Artists, 52 Actions, Museum & Art Gallery of NT, Darwin, Australia
2024 52 Artists, 52 Actions, Gladstone Regional Art Gallery, Gladstone, Queensland
2024 Frybread as Fok, Emily Carr University Commons Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2023 Candy Apple Grey, (curated by Sebastian Goldspink), China Heights, Sydney, Australia
2023 52 Artists, 52 Actions, Jervis Bay Maritime Museum, Jervis Bay, Australia
2023 52 Artists, 52 Actions, Wangarrata Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
2022 Scents of Movement Scents of Place, (curated by Lindsey Sharman), Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
2022 52 Artists, 52 Actions, Bega Vallery Regional Gallery, Bega Valley, Australia
2022 52 Artists 52 Actions, Penrith Regional Art Gallery, Penrith, NSW
2022 Humm & Buzz, Neo Lite Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2021 Indigenous Womxn Banner Project, temporary public art (curated by Red Embers) at Ashbridges Bay, Toronto, Canada
2021 Indigenous Crossroads, with Tlacolulokos Collective, commissioned mural by the Canadian Embassy Mexico, Oaxaca, Mexico
2021 States of Collapse, (curated by Wendy Peart), Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
2021 52 Artists 52 Actions, (curated by Talia Linz), commissioned, (travelling), Artspace, Sydney, Australia
2020 Society, Art Metropole, (curated by Jonathan Middleton), Toronto, Canada
2020 The Auto Show, United Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
2020 Frolic Freeze, Articulate, Sydney, Australia
2019 Indigenous Womxn Banner Project, temporary public art (curated by Red Embers) at Allen Gardens, Toronto, Canada
2018 How Far Do You Travel?, (curated by Kimberly Phillips), Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2018 niigaankwewag, (curated by Rheanne Chartrand), Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada
2017 Language of Puncture, (curated by Joi Arcand), Gallery 101, Ottawa, Canada
2017 Future Memories (Present Tense):Contemporary Practices in Perspective, (curated by Lorenzo Fusi), Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Canada
2017 How to Picture Living Systems No. 2, (curated by Petra Maitz) KLI, Vienna, Austria
2016 Degree Examinations, Sydney College of the Arts Galleries, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney, NSW
2016 Culture Shift: Contemporary Native Art Biennale, Third Edition, (curated by Mike Patten), Art Mur, Montreal, Quebec
2015 SNO 115, Sydney, NSW
2015 Believe not every spirit, but try the spirts, with Mikala Dwyer and Alterbeast, Monash Museum of Art, Caulfield East, Victoria
2015 Kiss Me Swiss in "Private Collection" (curated by Beata Geyer) WEST Project Space, Hazelbrook, NSW
2014 SNO 110, Gallery 9, Sydney, NSW
2014 20/200 with Mikala Dwyer, Sarah Cottier Gallery,Sydney, NSW
2014 Beat Nation, (curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard), Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
2013 Beat Nation, (curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard), Musee d'art Contemporaine, Montreal, Quebec
2013 Goodnight, Peloton, Sydney, NSW
2013 Cabinet of Curiosities, Callan Park Gallery, Sydney,NSW
2013 Sydney Non Objective turns 100, Sydney Non Objective, Sydney, NSW
2012 Beat Nation, (curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard), Toronto PowerPlant, Toronto, Canada
2012 Beat Nation, (curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2011 50-500, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg, Canada
2011 Mikala Dwyer 'Alphabet for Ghosts' for Alterbeast, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2011 Finalist, David Harold Tribe Sculpture Prize, Sydney College of the Arts Galleries,  Sydney, NSW
2011 Alterbeast with Mikala Dwyer, Carla Cescon, Tine Havelock Stevens as special guest, Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith, NSW
2010 Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (curated by Gerald McMaster), Toronto, Canada 
2010 An Oeuvre both Abundant and Diverse (curated by Brad Buckley), SCA Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2010 No. 61, (curated by Rhonda Davis and Camila Tellez), S.N.O., Sydney, NSW
2010 Safari 2010 (curated by Lisa Corsi) Sydney, NSW
2010 Minus Space, SNO Group Gallery 9, Brooklyn, USA
2009 No. 50, S.N.O., Sydney, NSW
2009 Remote Control, Tortuga Studios Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2009 Fundraiser, The Narrows, Melbourne, NSW
2008 Finalist Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Artists Travel Scholarship
2008 Point of Origin (curated by Gary Pearson) Artspace, Sydney, NSW
2007 Echelon, Peloton, Sydney, NSW
2007 Smash Hits, Parramatta Studios, Parramatta, NSW
2007 Square Dance, Firstdraft, Sydney, NSW
2007 Intermediaries, MOP Projects, Sydney, NSW
2007 Finalist Helen Lempriere Traveling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney, NSW
2006 Finalist Helen Lempriere Traveling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney, NSW

 

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Conferences /Panel Discussions
2020 22nd Sydney Biennale, Aabaakwad, with Wanda Nanibush, MCA, Sydney Australia
2017 Locating Ourselves:Revisiting Inclusion in Indigenous Arts, with Suzanne Morrissette, Alberta Collage of Art and Design, Calgary, Alberta
2017 Aksokgowamoski (Making Relations), Symposium, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Canada
2017 Transcultural Collaborations, with Janelle Evans, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney Australia
2016 Decolonizing Conference, OISE, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2017 Language as Puncture, with Joi T. Arcand, Gallery 101, Ottawa, Canada
2008 Point of Origin, with Blair French, Artspace, Sydney, NSW
 
Grants/Awards
2024 Longlisted Public Art Commission, Howard Levitt, Toronto, Canada
2023 Professional Development Grant, National Art School, Sydney, NSW
2022 Commissioned, George Street Revitalisation Public Art, Toronto, Canada
2021 Shortlisted, West Donlands Indigenous Public Art, Waterfront Toronto, Toronto, Caanda
2021 Shortlisted, George Street, Public Art, Toronto, Canada
2021 Short Term Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada
2021 Professional Development Grant, National Art School, Sydney, NSW
2020 Longlisted, Richmond Street, Public Art, City of Toronto, Canada
2018 Travel Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada
2018 Shortlisted, Scarlett Road Bridge, Public Art, City of Toronto, Canada
2018 Shortlisted, Dartmouth Sports Complex, Halifax, Canada
2017 Mediating the Treaties, Public Art Commission, Indigenous Sculpture Park, Winnipeg Art Council, Winnipeg and City of Winnipeg, Canada
2016 Shortlisted, Indigenous Sculpture Park, Winnipeg Art Council and City of Winnipeg, Canada
2016 Sydney University Postgraduate Research Support Scheme Grant, Sydney, NSW
2015 Bringing back Wabakinine, Public Art Commission, Bala Underpass, City of Toronto, Canada
2015 New Work Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada
2015 Shortlist, Public Art Commission, Bala Underpass, City of Toronto, Canada
2012 New Work Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada
2012 Shortlisted, Blake Prize, Sydney, Australia
2011 Finalist David Harold Sculpture Award, SCA Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2009 Shortlisted, Urbanest/BatesSmart Public Art, Sydney, NSW
2007 Marketing Grant, National Association for Visual Arts (NAVA), Sydney, NSW
2007 Finalist, Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney, NSW
2004-2006 Postgraduate Support Scheme Grant, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
2006 Finalist, Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace,Sydney, NSW
2006 Shortlisted, RIPE, Art&Australia/ANZ Bank Contemporary Art Award
2006 Michipicoten First Nation Incentive Grant, Wawa, Ontario, Canada
2005-2006 Michipicoten First Nation Post Graduate Student Support Scholarship, Wawa, Canada
2000-2004 Michipicoten First Nation Student Support Scholarship, Wawa, Canada
 
Artist Residencies/Artist Talk/ Mentoring/Workshops
2024 Artist talk, Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver, Canada
2024 International Women's Day - A Shared Table, Lane Cove Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2024 Workshops, Aboriginal Gathering Place, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, Canada
2022 Art Gallery of Alberta, Artist Talk, Edmonton, Canada
2021 Artforum, National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2021 One Day Mentorship, BFA Honor Students, University of Regina, Regina, Canada
2021 15 minute Mentorship, Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA,) Winnipeg, Canada
2019 Forest City Gallery, Artist Talk, London, Canada
2019 Contemporary Art Gallery, Artist Talk, Vancouver, Canada
2018 This Place, Indigenous Sculpture Park, Artist Talk, Air Canada Park, Winnipeg, Canada
2017 Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Artist Talk, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Canada
2017 Artist in Residence, Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Canada
2017 University of Calgary, Artist Presentation, Calgary, Canada
2015 Artist in Residence, Hunan Normal University, Hunan, China
2015 Canada Council New Work Grant, Canada
2015 Artist in Residece, Yamaji Art Centre, Geraldton, Western Australia
2015 Artist in Residence, Roebourne Disrict High, Roebourne, Western Australia
2014 Artist in Residence, Yamaji Art Center, Geraldton, Western Australia
2014 Artist in Residence, Barkly Artist Camp, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory
2014 Artist in Residence, Ngurratjuta Art Center, Alice Springs, Northern Territory
2013 Artist in Residence, Yamaji Art Center, Geraldton, Western Australia
2013 Artist in Residence, Artback, Alice Springs, Northern Territority
2012 Simon Fraser University, Artist Presentation and studio critiques for Masters students, Vancouver, Canada
2011 University of Manitoba, Artist Presentation, Winnipeg, Canada
2011 Artist in Residence, The Sofitel on Colllins, Melbourne, VIC
2010 Artist in Residence, The New Gallery, Calgary, Canada
2008 Australia National University, Artist Presentation, Canberra, NSW
2008 University of Newcastle, Artist Presentation, Newcastle, NSW
2008 Studio Residency, Artspace, Sydney, NSW
2008 Artist in Residence, University of British Columbia (Okanagan), British Columbia, Canada
2007 Studio Residency, Firstdraft, Sydney, NSW
2006 Shortlist, Ripe, Art & Australia/ANZ Private Bank Contemporary Art Award

 

Writings on the Artist:
2019 Akimbo, Hit List, https://akimbo.ca/akimblog/rolande-souliere-artist-sydney/
2019 Rolande Souliere: Frequent Stopping IV and V by Kimberly Phillips, https://www.contemporaryartgallery.ca/exhibitions/rolande-souliere-frequent-stopping-iv-and-v/
2019 Red Embers Public Art Installation at Toronto’s Allan Garden, Canadian Architect, July 2, 2019 https://www.canadianarchitect.com/red-embers-public-art-installation-transforms-torontos-allan-gardens/
2018 CBC Radio Interview with Jaime Lee McKenzie, September 28, Winnipeg, Canada
2018 Finding a Way, curated by Bryan McGee, The Globe and Mail, January 6, 2018, Opinion, p. 4, 6-8
2018 Global News, Morning Show, Indigenous Sculpture Park Launch, September 29, Winnipeg, Canada
2018 Rick Garrett, Michipicoten artist's new installation in New Mexico, Anishinabek News, January11,2018, http://anishinabeknews.ca/2018/01/11/michipicoten-artists-latest-installation-in-new-mexico/
2018 Cathy Mattes, Sites of Visual Remedy, catalogue essay, Winnipeg Arts Council, http://winnipegarts.ca/images/uploads/files/Public_Art/THIS_PLACE/Sites_of_Visual_Remedy_text_by_C_Mattes.pdf
2018 Mop Projects 2003-2016, Publication, Formist, Sydney, NSW
2017 McDonald's Youth Campaign, television commecial, Skin and Bones Film Company, https://abancommercials.com/ca/vid/750/det/mcdonalds-we-believe-in-canadian-youth-tv-ad-commercial
2017 U Turn, music video, Warner Music Canada
2017 Zoom Zoom Magazine, Mazda Motor Corporation
2012 Beat Nation, Catalogue, Vancouver Art Gallery and Grunt Gallery, November 2012.
2012 Marsha Lederman, A New Native Art, Globe and Mail, February 29, 2012, p. R1, R3.
2011 Elizabeth Fortescue, David Harold Tribe Sculpture Prize, The Daily Telegraph, June 6, 2011
2010 Nancy Tousley, Artist Doubles her Direction, The Calgary Herald, July 24, 2010
2010 S.N.O., Catalogue, S.N.O., Sydney, NSW
2010 David Garneau, Rolande Souliere's Sign Language, catalogue essay, The New Gallery
2009 Gary Pearson, ‘Point of Origin: a curatorial essay in seven parts’, Column 3, Artspace Visual Arts Centre Ltd. 2009, p. 15-24.
2009

Suzanne Boccalatte and Meredith Jones, Trunk Volume 1: Hair, Sydney: Boccalatte Pty Ltd, 2009, p. 153-155.

2008

Skeena Reece, ‘Rolande Souliere’, brunt grunt gallery in print, Issue 4, September 2008, p. 28-31 18.

2008 Video Interview: ‘Materiality’; Interview with Rolande Souliere http://www.grunt.ca/the-kitchen.html
2008

‘Preview’, Canadian Art, Winter 2007, v 24, no. 4, p.  20.

2008 ‘Art Attack’, Harpers Bazaar, March 2008, p. 385.
2008 Kevin Griffin, ‘Exhibition opens a door to another world’, The Vancouver Sun, March 13-19, 2008, p. D18.
2008 ‘Art Exhibition -Rolande Souliere’, Michipicoten First Nation News, March 2008, p. 15.
2008 ‘Vancouver’, Preview, February/March 2008, p. 41.
2008 Vancouver< em> 2010 Cultural Olympiad 2008 Program guide, Cultural Olympiad, Vancouver, 2008, p. 107.
2008 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad, ‘Rolande Souliere Materiality and Otherness’, FRONT Contemporary Art and Ideas, January/February, p. 6.
2007 Tony D’Fabrici, ‘Intermediaries’, catalogue essay, MOP Projects. Sydney, 2007, p.3.
2007 ‘Rolande Souliere- Another Artisan of MFN, Michipicoten First Nation News, April, p. 2.
2006

Le Flaneur, ‘Rolande Souliere: G&A Studios’, Australian Art Blog, June 4,  http://blogon.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

2005 Rick Garrick, ‘Anishinabe Artist Down Under’, Anishinabek News, April, p. 18.

 

Related Experience
2022 Acting Head of Painting, National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2021- Senior Lecturer (Painting), National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2020 Lecturer, (Painting), National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2019 Sessional Academic, (Studio Practice) University of New South Wales, Art and Design, Sydney, Australia
2019-2016 Sessional Academic, (Painting-Masters Program), National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2012-15 Sessional Academic, (Painting-Honours Program), National Art School, Sydney, Australia
2013 Sessional Academic, Sculpture, Performance, Installation (SPI), College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2012 Foundation Studio, Sessional Academic, Painting, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney
2010 Foundation Concepts Sessional Academic, Painting, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney
2009 Sessional Academic, Studio, Painting, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney
2008 Sessional Academic, Studio, Painting, Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney
2003-2004 ARTPORT, Artists Run Initiatives Committee member, Museums and Galleries, Sydney
2003 Representative, Board of Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
2003-2001 Director, newspace, 680 Darling Street, Sydney, NSW



Included in Private Collections in Australia and Canada

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