MCMASTER, Meryl
Canadian / Plains Cree, born 1988
2010 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Majoring in Photography, Ontario College of
Art and Design University, Toronto, ON
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Meryl McMaster: Second Self/Ancestral, Pierre-François Ouellette
Art Contemporain, Montreal, QC
Confluence, The Rooms, St. John’s, NL
Confluence, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge, AB
2017 Threads of Self, Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain,
Montreal, QC
Entre-Deux Mondes – In-Between Worlds, Montreal Museum of
Fine Arts, Montreal, QC
Confluence, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, MB
Confluence, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, ON
Confluence, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
2016 Confluence, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto, ON
Confluence, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
Collected Journeys, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
Wanderings, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2015 Meryl McMaster: Ancestral, Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Wanderings, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ON
Wanderings, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Meryl McMaster: Second Self, Smithsonian National Museum of the
American Indian, New York, NY
2013 In-Between Worlds, Art Gallery of Hamilton Design Annex,
Hamilton, ON
In-Between Worlds, Peterborough Art Gallery, Peterborough, ON
In-Between Worlds, Katzman Kamen Gallery, Toronto, ON
2012 In-Between Worlds, Station Gallery, Whitby, ON
2011 Second Self, The Latcham Gallery, Stouffville, ON
2011 Second Self, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, ON
2010 In-Between Worlds, Project Space, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto,
ON
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award, National Gallery of
Canada, Ottawa, ON
Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award, OCADU Onsite Gallery,
Toronto, ON
Resilience, National Billboard Project, across Canada
níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma soeur | my sister, Stewart Hall Art Gallery,
Pointe-Claire, QC
We’ll All Become Stories, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
Niigaanikwewag, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
Recover All That is Ours, Campbell River Art Gallery, Campbell River, B.C
Native Portraiture: Power and Perception, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma,
WA
Meryl McMaster and David Ellingsen: Betwixt, The Hospital Club, London,
England
Embodiment, Museum London, London, ON
From here to there (then and now), Portage Bridge Tunnel, Ottawa, ON
2017 150 Acts: Art, Activism, Impact, Art Gallery of Guelph, Guelph, ON
Meryl McMaster and David Ellingsen: Betwixt, The Hospital Club, London,
England
Native Art Now, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art,
Indianapolis, IN
Art in the Tunnels, Ottawa Portage Bridge, Ottawa, ON
First Nations Now II: Contemporary Innovations, The Baldwin Gallery,
London, England
My City My Six: home/place, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto, ON
Material Girls, Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catherine, ON
Future Memories (Present Tense): Contemporary Practices in
Perspective, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, AB
Entering the Landscape, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg,
MB
Continuum, Karsh Masson Gallery, Ottawa, ON
Great and North: Imago Mundi Project, Venice, Italy
Re-Enact, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto,
ON
It’s Complicated, Central Art Garage, Ottawa, ON
All-Day Breakfast, First Canadian Place, Toronto, ON
Drive-Thru, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ON
First Nations Now: Between Worlds, The Baldwin Gallery, London,
England
Coyote School, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
The Sublunary World, Black Club, London, England
The Sublunary World, The Baldwin Gallery, London, England
Material Girls, University of Saskatchewan College Art Gallery, Saskatoon,
SK
Dar’a/Full Circle, Artcite Inc., Windsor, ON
25 x 25: Twenty-Five Years of Exhibition Announcements from Twenty-
Five Indigenous Artist, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives,
Ottawa, ON
From the Belly of Our Being, Oklahoma State University Museum of Art,
Stillwater, Oklahoma
2016 Aujourd’hui Encore, Trépanier Baer Gallery, Calgary, AB
My Spirit is Strong, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Art Gallery,
Gatineau, QC
Reimagining Agora: 2016 Yorkville Village Arts Festival, Yorkville Village,
Toronto, ON
Back Where They Came From, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas
City, Missouri
Since Then, PLATORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, Winnipeg,
MB
Material Girls, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, AB
Counterpoints: Photography Through the Lens of Toronto Collections,
University of Toronto Art Centre, Toronto, ON
Canadian Belongings, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
Future 33, YTB Gallery, Toronto, ON
Miller Time, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ON
Fifth World, Kitchen Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, ON
Material Girls, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto, ON
Temporal (Re)Imaginings, Canada Council for the Arts, Âjagemô
Art Space, Ottawa, ON
This is Us Now, Karsh-Masson Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2015 ORANGE 2015 – Visceral, ORANGE Pavilion, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC
Gazing Back, Looking Forward, Fort York National Historic Site Gallery,
Toronto, ON
Identity: Art Inspired by the Great Lakes, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario’s
Vice Regal Suite, Toronto, ON
Ontario in Âjagemô, Canada Council for the Arts Gallery, Ottawa,
ON
Fifth World, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
Imago Mundi: Map of The New Art, Fondazione Giorgio Cini,
Venezia, Italy
The Rebel Yells: Dress and Political Re-dress in Contemporary
Indigenous Art, FOFA Gallery, Montréal, QC
in-between-in-between, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ON
Material Girls, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, SK
In Another Place, And Here, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, B.C.
2014 I:ke - I have motion, ASpace/ IMAGINENative Film Festival, Toronto, ON
Flash Forward 10th Anniversary Exhibition: Uncanny Worlds, OCAD
University ONSITE Gallery, Toronto, ON
Storytelling: Contemporary Native Art Biennale, Ottawa School of Art
Shenkman Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON
The Ontario-Jiangsu Photography Project, Ontario Ministry of
Tourism/Ontario Arts Council online exhibition, Toronto, ON
Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival: Identity, MOCCA, Toronto,
ON
Storytelling: Contemporary Native Art Biennal, Art Mûr, Montréal, QC
2013 RED: Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, The Eiteljorg Museum
of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN
AGO First Thursday, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
Trade Marks, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON
In the Flesh, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
Face to Face, Durham Art Gallery, Durham, ON
2012 Spotlight on 40 Years: Artworks from the Canada Council Art Bank,
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, ON
New Faces: Portraits from the Collection of the Canada Council Art
Bank, Jardins de Métis – Reford Gardens, Grand-Métis, QC
Flash Forward 2011 Group Show, Fairmont Battery Wharf, Boston,
Massachusetts
1812-2012: A Contemporary Perspective, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto,
ON
Fashionality: Dress and Identity in Contemporary Canadian Art,
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
Flash Forward 2011, The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland,
Maine
2011 Flash Forward 2011, Airship 37, Toronto, ON
Being She: Photography Exhibition, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
Photopia 2011, Gallery 44, Toronto, ON
Faves, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, ON
Merge, AGO Art Rental + Sales Gallery, Toronto, ON
2010 Past Now, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
Past Now, OCAD Graduate Gallery, Toronto, ON
94th Annual Graduate Exhibition, Ontario College of Art and Design,
Toronto, ON
We Are Wild, XPACE Gallery, Toronto, ON
OCAD Thesis Group Exhibition, Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto, ON
Endaian, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
Passages: First Peoples at OCAD, OCAD, Toronto, ON
PROOF 17: Emerging Canadian Photographers, Gallery 44,
Toronto, ON
2009 Latin-Afro-First Nations Festival 09, Hosted by the Latino Canadian
Cultural Association at Fork York, Toronto, ON
Bring to Light, Contact Photography Festival, Steam Whistle Brewery
Roundhouse, Toronto, ON
2007 Gatherings, XPACE Gallery, Toronto, ON
2006 Undercover, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, ON
Pathways: Students Interpret the Firestone Collection of Canadian art,
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2017 Wrapped in Culture, City of Ottawa/Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
2015 Wandering Together: Johannes Zits and Meryl McMaster, Katzman
Contemporary, Toronto, ON
ART FAIRS
2018 Papier Art Fair, Montréal, Canada
VOLTA NY Art Fair, New York, NY, USA
2017 Art Toronto 2017: Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
2015 Feature Contemporary Art Fair, Toronto, Ontario
Papier 15 Art Fair, Montréal, Canada
2012 Art Toronto 2012: Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, Canada
RESIDENCIES
2015 Canadian Residency Program, Detroit, Michigan
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2018 Short-Term Project Grant – Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The
Arts and Cultures of Frist Nations, Inuit and Metis; Canada Council
for the Arts
Scotiabank’s New Generation Photography Award
2017 REVEAL Indigenous Art Award, The Hnatyshyn Foundation
2016 Sobey Art Award Long List
2015 Visual Artists: Emerging Grant, Ontario Arts Council
Creation and Production Fund for Professional Artists, City of
Ottawa
2013 Creation & Production Grant for Emerging Artists, City of Ottawa
Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow, The Eiteljorg Museum of
American Indians and Western Art
2012 Charles Pachter Prize for Emerging Artists, The Hnatyshyn
Foundation
Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council
2010 Canon Canada Prize
Nora E. Vaughan Award
Ontario College of Art and Design Medal, Photography
Spoke Club Membership Prize
Vaughan Imagination Zone Award
Vistek Photography Award
REVIEWS
Gismondi, Chris J. “Meryl McMaster, Pierre-François Ouellette Art
Contemporain” Canadian Art, August 23, 2018 (Web)
Enright, Robert “Picturing The Red Line”, Border Crossings, Issue 146, Vol. 37
No. 2, pg. 36 – 48, June 2018
Borderviews “Taking Back the Territory”, Border Crossings, Issue 146, Vol. 37
No. 2, pg. 14 – 15, June 2018
Wine, Rachel “ Meryl McMaster exhibition confronts history of Indigenous
representation”, Globe and Mail, May 22, 1028
Saxberg, Lynn “ Check out work by the New Generation Photography Award
Winners”, Ottawa Citizen, April 12, 2018
Saxberg, Lynn “And the first New Generation Photography awards go to…”,
Ottawa Citizen, March 13, 2018
Everett-Green, Robert “Through the lens of Ottawa photographer Meryl
McMaster”, The Globe and Mail, December 13, 2017
Korducki, Kelli “Moving through Grief”, Canadian Art, February 6, 2018
Gaudet, Manon “Crossovers: Meryl McMaster”, Border Crossings, Issue 141,
Vol. 36 No. 1, pg. 91-92, March 2017
Charron, Marie-Eve “Staging of self and power in Momenta”, Le Devoir,
September 23, 2017
Yvon, Anne-Marie “The imagined worlds of Meryl McMaster”, ICI Radio-Canada,
September 8, 2017
Beurton, Clémence, “Meryl McMaster: La fabrique de l’identité artistique”, La
Source, Vol. 17 No. 1, pg. 8, January 10 – 24, 2017
Paul, Gessell, “Meryl McMaster’s Dreamscape”, Gallery West Magazine, January
13, 2017
Dick, Terence, “Canadian Belonging(s) at the Art Gallery of Mississauga”,
Akimblog, June 8, 2016 (Web)
Simpson, Peter, “Meryl McMaster at Carleton University Art Gallery”, Ottawa
Citizen, May 15, 2016
Jaeger, Ann, “Meryl McMaster’s Wanderings”, The Capilano Review 3.28, Winter
2016
Robb, Peter, “Ottawa artist Meryl McMaster on the long list for 2016 Sobey
Award”, Ottawa Citizen, April 14, 2016
Jaeger, Ann, “Meryl McMaster – Wanderings”, Electric City Magazine, Mar 23,
2016
Hunter, Benjamin, “Meryl McMaster’s Next Chapter”, Canadian Art, Nov 2, 2015
(Web)
Green, Christopher, “Meryl McMaster: Second Self”, The Brooklyn Rail, Sept 8,
2015 (Web)
Limón, Enrique, “Appropriate This: Seven Native American Artists Confront
Stereotypes Head-On”, Santa Fe Reporter, pg. 24 – 25, August 19-25, 2015
Spivey, Whitney, “Summer Shows at MoCNA”, Santa Fean Magazine, pg. 44 –
45, Summer 2015
Meier, Allison, “Drawn Self-Portraits Materialized as Masks”, Hyperallergic,
August 11, 2015 (Web)
Walker, Ellyn, “Identity as Contingency: Meryl McMaster’s In-Between Worlds”,
Black Flash Magazine, pg. 5 – 9, Volume 32, Issue 3, August – December 2015
Simpson, Peter, “Meryl McMaster takes New York with her elaborate selfportraits
and portraits”, Ottawa Citizen, June 12, 2015
Gazzola, Bart, “Perfect Goodbye: The Fifth World Exemplifies Everything
Excellent About the Mendel”, Plant S Magazine, Vol. 13, Issue 26, April 30, 2015
Fournier, Lauren, “Material Girls Takes up Space at the Dunlop”, Canadian Art,
April 2, 2015 (Web)
Walker, Ellyn, “Representing the Self through Ancestry: Meryl McMaster’s
Ancestral Portraits”, Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, Vol. 15,
No, 1, 2015 (Web)
Ryan Smith, Matthew, “Notes on Curating Autobiographical Art”, Esse Arts +
Opinions Magazine, pg. 34 – 39, Issue 84 2015
Falvey, Emily, “Storytelling: The Contemporary Native Art Biennial”, Canadian Art
Magazine, pg. 186, Fall 2014
Meier, Rhonda, “Storytelling: The Contemporary Native Art Biennial, 2nd Edition”,
First American Art Magazine, No. 4, pg. 22, 75-76, Fall 2014
Bruce, Kira, “Stories Retold”, Adone Magazine, Issue: Carte Blanche, 2014
Krunak-Hajagos, Emese, “In-Between Worlds: The photographs of Meryl
McMaster”, NY Arts Magazine, Volume 21. N.I, pg. 40 – 41, Winter 2014
Brereton, William, “Surrealist Self-Portraiture: Aesthetic Mediations of Mixed-
Race Women’s Stories”, Kapsula Magazine, December 2013 (Web)
Gallpen, Britt, “Emerging Indigenous Artists Make Their Mark at Prefix”,
Canadian Art, November 6, 2013 (Web)
Smith, Matthew Ryan, “Exhibition Review: Trade Marks”, Magenta Magazine,
November 2013 (Web)
Krunak-Hajagos, Emese, “Meryl McMaster: In-Between Worlds”, Art Toronto,
September 2013 (Web)
Simpson, Peter, “Meryl McMaster shines at Ottawa Art Gallery”, Ottawa Citizen,
Arts, June 24, 2013, Ottawa, ON
Gessell, Paul, “Meryl McMaster’s stunning costumed self-portraits steal the show
again and again”, Ottawa Magazine, June 26, 2013
Jordan, Betty Ann, “The Wilding: Artists and designers are poaching untamed
animals as a way to explore what it means to be human,” Fashion Magazine, pg.
184-186, October 2011
SOLO EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
Confluence, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON, May 2016
GROUP EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
We’ll All Become Stories, The Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON, 2017
What Does The Image Stand For?, Momenta Biennale de L’image, Montreal,
QC, September 2017
Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON,
June 2017
From the Belly of Our Being: art by and about Native creation, Oklahoma State
University Museum of Art, Stillwater, Oklahoma, January 2017
In Another Place, And Here, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, B.C.,
January 2015
RED: Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN,
2013
In the Flesh, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON, 2013
Flash Forward Tenth, The Magenta Foundation, Toronto, ON, Oct 2014
Flash Forward: Emerging Photographers 2011, The Magenta Foundation,
Toronto, ON, 2011
PUBLICATIONS
Performance Studies In Canada, Edited by Laura Levin and Marlis Schweitzer,
McGill-Queen’s University Press 2017
Arc Poetry Magazine, Issue 82, Winter 2017
In Translation, Room 38.1 Magazine, Vancouver, B.C., March 2015
Colour & Two-Dimensional Design, OCAD University, Toronto, ON, 2014
Min Joo Chae (Ed.). “Break the Rules,” ARTZINE (Art + Magazine), October
Issue No.3, pg. 92-97, Sun in Jang Creative Agency, Seoul, South Korea, 2011
FILM/TELEVISION FEATURES
Feb 2018 “Native Art Now!”, The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and
Western Art, Produced/Writer by Viki Anderson, Indianapolis, IN
Jan 2017 “Meryl McMaster: Confluence”, Richmond Art Gallery, Filmed in
Richmond, B.C
Jan 2015 “Metrópolis - imagineNATIVE 2014”, Spanish Television Public
Network, Filmed in Toronto, ON
Oct 2014 The Ontario-Jiangsu Photography Project, Powerline Films, Ontario Arts
Council, Filmed in Ottawa, ON
Oct 2012 “Canada Council Art Bank—Contemporary Art for Canadians,”
Filmed in Ottawa, ON
Feb 2012 “Meryl McMaster: In-Between Worlds,” Station Gallery, Filmed in
Whitby, ON
Feb 2011 “Meryl McMaster: ‘Second Self’,” Interview by Tali Dudin at Leo
Kamen Gallery, ArtSync Television, Filmed in Toronto, ON
COLLECTIONS
AIMIA Art Collection
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Art Gallery of Ontario
BMO Art Collection
Canada Council Art Bank
Carleton University Art Gallery
City of Ottawa Fine Art Collection
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Desjardins Bank Art Collection
Doris McCarthy Gallery
Eiteljorg Museum
Guelph Art Gallery
Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
Lerners LLP Art Collection
McMaster Museum of Art
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Munich Re Art Collection
Museum London
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Ottawa Art Gallery
Private Collections
RBC Art Collection
Schingoethe Museum
Schulich School of Business
Stewart Hall Museum
The Canadian Museum of History
The Donovan Collection
The Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Art Collection
The National Gallery of Canada
The National Museum of American Indian
Toronto Dominion Bank Art Collection
University of Victoria Legacy Art Galleries
Person TypeIndividual
Canadian, b. Iceland, 1966
