Monday, August 18, 10:45 – 11:45 am
The Garrick Theatre, Bonavista
Speakers: Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Ryan Rice, Rose Bouthillier
Moderator: Mireille Eagan
In this final conversation, the Bonavista Biennale’s Artistic Director Rose Bouthillier, 2025 Curator Heather Igloliorte, and 2023 Curator Ryan Rice discuss the significance and potential of curating contemporary art outside and beyond major art institutions and big cities. How is the Bonavista Biennale like other global Biennials and Triennials, and what makes it unique? This panel explores the intriguing challenges, distinct opportunities, and surprising impacts and outcomes that occur when contemporary art is installed off the beaten path.
Speaker bios:
Dr. Heather Igloliorte is an Inuk-Newfoundlander and Nunatsiavut Beneficiary, and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices at the University of Victoria, BC, where she is a professor in the Visual Arts department. Dr. Igloliorte has been a curator since 2005 and has worked on more than 30 curatorial projects, including national and international touring exhibitions, permanent collection exhibits, festivals, and public art installations. She has made significant contributions to the art history of Newfoundland and Labrador, including SakKijâjuk: Art and Craft from Nunatsiavut, created and circulated by The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. John’s. SakKijâjuk toured across Canada from 2016-2020 and was awarded the 2017 Award of Outstanding Achievement in Education from the Canadian Museums Association. Igloliorte’s curatorial work has been recognized by the Hnatyshyn Foundation with the Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art (2021). She is the current president of the board of the Inuit Art Foundation and was the first Indigenous person in Canada to be awarded a Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal for her service to Indigenous art and artists, also in 2021.
Ryan Rice, Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawake, is a Toronto-based curator, critic, and creative consultant. With a curatorial career spanning over 30 years, he has worked across communities, museums, artist-run centres, public spaces, and galleries. Rice currently serves as Executive Director and Curator, Indigenous Art at OCAD University’s Onsite Gallery. He is the 2025 recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Margo Bindhardt and Rita Davies Cultural Leadership Award. His most recent curatorial project, Rosalie Favell | Belonging (1982–2024), is touring nationally across Canada through 2028.
Rose Bouthillier joined the Bonavista Biennale as Artistic Director in April 2022, and is based in Maberly, on the Bonavista Peninsula. Throughout her career, her focus has been on working closely with artists to develop and present new projects, promoting under-recognized voices and creating thoughtful inter-generational dialogues. Previously, she served as Curator (Exhibitions) at Remai Modern, and Associate Curator and Publications Manager at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
Moderator bio:
Mireille Eagan is the Curator of Contemporary Art at The Rooms in St. John’s, NL. She has curated over 150 exhibitions, either individually or collaboratively, including the nationally touring retrospective Mary Pratt and Mary Pratt: This Little Painting at the National Gallery of Canada. Eagan also curated the Terra Nova Art Foundation’s Collateral Project at the 55th Venice Biennale. Her writing and curatorial work have earned numerous accolades, including a Gold Medal at the Digital Publishing Awards (2018) and the Critical Eye Award from VANL-CARFAC (2017, 2022). She was project lead for Future Possible: An Art History of Newfoundland and Labrador, which won the 2022 Atlantic Book Award for Best Atlantic-Published Book and received Honourable Mention for Outstanding Research from both the Canadian Museums Association and the Melva J. Dwyer Award. The project later served as the theme for a major Atlantic arts conference, where Eagan was the keynote speaker. Eagan currently serves as President of the Atlantic Provinces Art Gallery Association. Her writing has appeared in Border Crossings, C Magazine, Canadian Art, The Globe and Mail, and Inuit Art Quarterly, and she has lectured widely across Canada.