August 16–September 14, 2025
Ajaraaq. Na’atl’o’. Ayatori. Cat’s Cradle. String Games are one of the oldest forms of play and handcraft, invented by cultures around the world. Through the careful manipulation of strings of thread, fiber, or sinew, fleeting shapes are formed to tell stories and share wisdom. They are woven through time and space and passed down through generations, intertwining the past with the present. With endless possibilities bound in a single loop, these games speak to skill, resourcefulness, the spark of imagination, and collaborative world-building.
This edition of Bonavista Biennale invites artists and visitors to consider what ties them to place. Many of the featured artists are from islands or remote locales, where isolation has fostered close-knit communities, ingenuity, and interdependence. Across 17 sites, they foreground local histories, customary practices, and land-based knowledge. Collaboration, connection, and the joy of creativity are celebrated. Together, the artists in String Games invite us to experience something enduring yet ephemeral, through the images, forms, sounds, and movements that they share.
For the first time, artists from multiple international locations have been invited to participate. Hailing from Hawai’i, Japan, Kalaallit Nunaat / Greenland, and Sápmi / Norway and Sweden, they share resonant contexts, histories and contemporary realities with artists from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) and Nunatsiavut and Nitassinan (Labrador).
Participating artists:
Brian Amadi
Sarah Baikie
Dáiddadállu
Eastern Owl
Andrea Flowers
Clara Clayton Gough
Maureen Gruben
Michael Massie
Ethan Murphy
Lisa Myers
Marianne Nicolson
Douglas Penney
Toby Rabinowitz
Daniel Rumbolt
Sancia Miala Shiba Nash
Inuuteq Storch
Haruna Sugisaki
Melissa Tremblett
Larry Weyand
Nellie Winters
The Women’s Institute
Opening Weekend Activities (August 16-18, 2025)
Biennale artists and curators will be gathering on the Bonavista Peninsula August 16-18 to celebrate the opening of String Games. Artists will be present at their sites on the afternoon of Saturday, August 16, and symposium to mark the Biennale’s milestone fifth edition will take place on Sunday and Monday, August 17-18, bringing artists and the public into dialogue on the Biennale’s impact, potential, and future direction.
Additional programming
A full program of performances, tours, artist talks and workshops, as well as the 2025 site map, will be announced later this spring.
String Games is curated by Dr. Heather Igloliorte, in collaboration with Rose Bouthillier, Artistic Director for Bonavista Biennale. A special exhibition of works by senior makers from Nunatsiavut is co-curated by Jessica Winters, Ella Jacque, and Vanessa Flowers.
The 2025 Biennale is being produced in partnership with Igloliorte’s Canada Excellence Research Chair in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices and the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab at the University of Victoria.
Download the full press release here.