Indigenous Visual Culture at OCAD University

Indigenous Visual Culture at OCAD University Traditionally Inspired, Culturally Relevant. The emphasis is on collaboration, innovation and the integration of traditional and emerging technologies.

OCAD University’s Indigenous Visual Culture Program is intended to foster, disseminate and educate Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to indigenous culture through art and design. Students benefit from an interdisciplinary university environment that blends academic rigour with the experimental freedom of the studio. Our totem is nigig the otter, who represents the spirit of our program: playfulness, dexterity, inventiveness and curiosity, combined with boundless energy and joy, which we believe are the characteristics of our students. The otter was chosen as our totem because he dives down into the depths of unknown waters and emerges with a tool upon which to crack open the shell of his imagination. OCADU offers Indigenous specific courses in the faculties of Liberal Studies, Art and Design leading to an Interdisciplinary Minor and Major in Indigenous Visual Culture. All courses are open to Aboriginal and non-Indigenous students.

OCAD University’s Faculty of Art presents:�ART CREATES CHANGE�The Kim Pruesse Speakers Series🌟Bonnie Devine⏰Thursday, Se...
09/18/2026

OCAD University’s Faculty of Art presents:�ART CREATES CHANGE�The Kim Pruesse Speakers Series

🌟Bonnie Devine
⏰Thursday, September 24, 7 pm
📍OCAD University Auditorium �100 McCaul St., M5T 1W1, Level 1, Room 190
🆓Free to the public
♿Wheelchair accessible

Bonnie Devine’s work examines colonial legacies, offers counter-narratives, and proposes an animate mapping of the Great Lakes and Woodland region of North America. Her cross-disciplinary practice engages various media, from painting to sculpture to video to writing, giving voice to the lands, waters, and histories on which she works and from which her art emerges. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and an Ontario Lieutenant Governor’s Heritage Award. Her art has been exhibited nationally and internationally, is in a number of institutional collections, and this year is included in the 2026 Biennales in both Venice and Toronto. Bonnie is a member of the Genaabaajing Serpent River Anishinaabe First Nation, and is the Founding Chair of OCAD University’s Indigenous Visual Culture program.

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Art Creates Change is a long-running lecture series, now in its 20th year, sponsored by the Faculty of Art at OCAD University. This year, in recognition of OCAD University’s 150th anniversary, we are focusing on three faculty members: Bonnie Devine, Richard Fung and Lillian Allen, three artists whose work has helped shape not only OCAD, but also the larger culture and political conversations of our time. Events are often co-sponsored with programs and organizations both within and beyond the university. Each event includes an artist presentation, Q&A, and a following reception. The events are free and open to the public and university communities.

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The Art Creates Change 2026 is supported by
Onsite Gallery
OCAD U Art & Social Change
INTM: LIFE STUDIES SPECIALIZATION in the Faculty of Art through a generous donation of the Joan and Clifford Hatch Foundation.

2026 Co-programmers: b.h. Yael & Min Sook Lee

Dream Touch Believe Presented by OCADu Indigenous Visual Culture -Director: Jenna Naranjo Winters (Santa Clara Pueblo)Pr...
06/06/2026

Dream Touch Believe
Presented by OCADu Indigenous Visual Culture
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Director: Jenna Naranjo Winters (Santa Clara Pueblo)
Preceded by: Honor of the Paintbrush Director: Louise Thomas (Maskago Cree)
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🕛 June 7, 2026 | 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
📍 TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 3
🎟️ Tickets on sale now for the 26th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, taking place June 2-7, 2026 (Toronto) and June 8-14, 2026 (online)!
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Use the code "OUTREACH" for 50% off all tickets at checkout

INVC congratulations the 2026 Medal Winner Liv Sydney!Liv Sydney is an Nunataagmuit and Gwich’in artist from Inuvik. Pra...
05/07/2026

INVC congratulations the 2026 Medal Winner Liv Sydney!

Liv Sydney is an Nunataagmuit and Gwich’in artist from Inuvik. Practising in printmaking, painting and textile arts, Sydney explores themes of love, beauty, familial connection and navigating the world as a carrier of generational trauma caused by the systemic oppression of Inuit and First Nations.

Address

100 McCaul Street
Toronto, ON
M5T1W1

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 5:30pm

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