Jessica Karuhanga
Jessica Karuhanga (she/her)
Assistant Professor, Visual Arts Studio
MFA, University of Victoria, 2012
BFA Honors Specialization in Studio Art, Western University, 2010
Research
Interests
Jessica Karuhanga is a first-generation Canadian artist of British-Ugandan heritage whose work addresses issues of cultural politics of identity and Black diasporic concerns through lens-based technologies, writing, drawing and performances. Through her practice she explores individual and collective concerns of Black subjectivity: illness, rage, grief, desire and longing within the context of Black embodiment.
She was the 2020 - 2021 recipient of Concordia University's SpokenWeb Artist/Curator In Residence Fellowship. Karuhanga has presented her work at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (2021), SummerWorks Lab (Toronto, 2020), The Bentway (Toronto, 2019), Nuit Blanche (Toronto, 2018), Onsite Gallery (Toronto, 2018) and Goldsmiths University (London, UK, 2017). Karuhanga's writing has been published by C Magazine, BlackFlash, Susan Hobbs Gallery and Fonderie Darling.
She has been featured in AGO's Artist Spotlight, i-D, DAZED, Visual Aids, Border Crossings, Exclaim!, Toronto Star, CBC Arts, esse, filthy dreams, Globe and Mail and Canadian Art. She earned her BFA from Western University and MFA from University of Victoria.
Awards, Honors and Grants
2021
Ontario Arts Council, Visual Arts Creation Projects
Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create: Concept to Realization
Toronto Arts Council, Visual Arts Project Grant
2017
Toronto Arts Council, Emerging Media Artist Grant
Ontario Arts Council, Culturally Diverse Curatorial Projects Grant
2016
Ontario Arts Council, Visual Arts: Emerging Grant
2015
Toronto Arts Council, Emerging Visual Artist Grant
Selected Publications
2021 Interview, American Artist, Blackwood Gallery
2019 Essay, Guillaume Adjutor Provost, Fonderie Darling
2018 Feature, Oliver Husain, Susan Hobbs Gallery
2017 Feature, Kapwani Kiwanga, BlackFlash Magazine
2016 Review, Simone Leigh, C Magazine
Column, Francisco-Fernando Granados, C Magazine
Writer-in-Residence, 7a11d International Festival of Performance Art, Canada
Recent Exhibitions
2022
From Remote Stars, Museum London, Canada
After Care, Mitchell Art Gallery, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada
2021
Undeliverable, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Canada
Collective Offerings, Art Gallery of Guelph, Canada
Léuli Eshrāghi & Jessica Karuhanga: Projections, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Canada
Gardenship, Museum London, Canada
Sensing, Feeling, Being, Glory Hole Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Aural Alterities, SpokenWeb and CURRENT, Canada
2020
Emotional Landscapes, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Canada
do you feel me?, The Bows, Calgary, Canada
Luminocity, Kamloops Art Gallery, Canada
2019
Undercurrents, The Bentway, Toronto, Canada
Ground, Sheridan Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Relational Revolutions, Queer Arts Festival, Vancouver, Canada
2018
I continue to shape, Art Museum at University of Toronto, Canada
our roots are here, amongst the grasses, Y+contemporary, Toronto, Canada
Inscapes, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Canada
Sunshine Eaters, Onsite Gallery, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
Embodiment, Museum London, Canada
