About

This is site features some of my writing, performances, videos, photographs, world wandering, painting and drawing.

Jeneen Frei Njootli is a recent Graduate from Emily Carr University. She is a member of the Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation and has found home in Vancouver, Ottawa, Prince Edward Island, 80 miles North of the Arctic Circle and currently, Banff. Frei Njootli was recently featured in Oops Magazine and her collaboration, Lowrider, with Dylan Miner was just on exhibition at Beat Nation: Aboriginal Art and Hip-Hop Culture at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She is currently a work-study in the photography department at the Banff Center.

Frei Njootli’s artwork deals with issues surrounding the commodification of First Nations culture, colonization through materials, and prompts to viewer to question who has authority in contemporary Aboriginal art and culture. She is also interested in community, participatory art practices, play, ecology, tradition, myth-making, feminism, identity politics, hunting, craft and questioning the social constructs that bind us in cityscapes.

jfreinjootli@gmail.com

Education
2012
Bachelor of Fine Arts, General Fine Arts, Emily Carr University, Vancouver BC
2010
Exchange Program, Sculpture, Sydney College of Art, Sydney AU

Professional experience
2012
Workshop Facilitator, Family Fuse at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC
Curatorial Coordinator/Research Assistant, Rita Wong at Emily Carr University, Vancouver BC
2011
Festival ssistant/Web Designer, Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival, Vancouver BC
Installation Artist, Parade of Lost Souls, Public Dreams Society, Vancouver BC
Youth Leadership/Crime Prevention Coordinator, Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation, Old Crow YT
2010
Makeup Artist, The Walrus and the Orca, film by Molly Carney, Lighthouse Park, Vancouver BC
Instructor, traditional Gwitchin mitten making workshop, Emily Carr University, Vancouver BC|
2009
Instructor, Jewelry Making Workshop, Aboriginal Youth Association, Vancouver BC
2008
Receptionist, Gallery of the Kanadas, Ottawa ON
Organizer, Poetry, Music and Art Night, Café de cuff, Ottawa ON
Organizer, Poetry Night, Allo Allo Café, Ottawa ON
Instructor, drum making workshop, Gwinzy Artist Co-operative, Ottawa ON
Instructor, traditional Gwitchin beading workshop, Oneness Collective, (funded by the Canada Council for the Arts), Ottawa ON

Solo Exhibitions
2010
Zhoh Autrite Mauw, Dedspace Gallery, Sydney AU

Curatorial Projects
2012
Downstream: Reimagining Water, Concourse Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2011
Navigating Ethical Representation, Interurban Gallery, Vancouver BC
2010
The Five Day Affair, Dedspace Gallery, with Jacob Dillow, Sydney AU
2009
Internal|External, Concourse Gallery, with Lauren Wood, Vancouver BC

Group Exhibitions
2012
Beat Nation, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC
Romance Capital, Rubble Gallery, Vancouver BC
2011
Under covers, Artspeak, Vancouver BC
Grand Entry, Concourse Gallery, Vancouver BC
2010
Plastic Fairytales, Concourse Gallery, Vancouver BC
Hot One Inch Action, Backspace, Portland OR
The Exchange Show, Concourse Gallery, Vancouver BC
Show Me Your Cans, 420 Pender, Vancouver BC
Performing Objects, Sydney College of Art Gallery, Sydney AU
Agardish, Sydney College of Art Gallery, Sydney AU
2009
Young Guns Art Show: Ottawa’s emerging artists, The Great Canadian Theater Company, Ottawa ON
Youth Resisting Colonialism and Rebuilding Pathways to Hope, OISE Gallery, Toronto ON
2008
Collective Scene, Mercury Lounge, Ottawa ON
2007
(Ab)original, Concourse Gallery, Vancouver BC
Foundation Show, Emily Carr University, Vancouver BC
2006
Pathways: Students Interpret the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, The Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa ON

Publications Featuring Work
2012
The Garbage Bunny, Illustrations for a book of poems by Johnny Murdoc McRae, Vancouver BC
Oops Magazine, Interview with Randy Grskovic, Vancouver BC/Japan
2011
Whitehorse Aboriginal Women’s Wellness Circle Calendar, Photographs, Whitehorse YT
2008
Redwire Magazine, Illustrations, Vancouver BC

Volunteer
2010
The Dreaming Festival: International Aboriginal Performing Arts, Woodford Folk Festival, Brisbane AU
I Love the Block: Aboriginal Awareness Festival, Sydney AU
2009
Toque, Western Front Art Gallery, Vancouver BC

Awards
2012
Semifinalist, Crazy8s Film Competition
2011
Full Tuition Scholarship Award, The Gulf Islands Film & Television School
Aboriginal Education Award, Emily Carr University
2007-10 
Midyear Scholarship, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation