Suzanne Morrissette (she/her) is an artist, curator, and scholar who is currently based out of Toronto. Her father’s parents were Michif- and Cree-speaking Metis with family histories tied to the Interlake and Red River regions and Scrip in the area now known as Manitoba. Her mother’s parents came from Canadian-born farming families descended from United Empire loyalists and Mennonites from Russia. Morrissette was born and raised in Winnipeg and is a citizen of the Manitoba Metis Federation.

As an artistic researcher Suzanne’s interests include: family and community knowledge, methods of translation, the telling of in-between histories, and practices of making that support and sustain life. Her two recent solo exhibitions, What does good work look like? and translations recently opened in Toronto (Gallery 44) and Montreal (daphne art centre) respectively. At the same time, her work has appeared in numerous group exhibitions such as Lii Zoot Tayr, an exhibition of Metis artists working with concepts of the unknowable, and the upcoming group exhibition of audio-based work about waterways called FLOW with imagineNATIVE Film + Media Art Festival.  

In recent years Suzanne has organized two curatorial research projects to recognize and honor the legacies of artistic knowledge in her hometown of Winnipeg. One of her SSHRC-funded research projects, Social Histories/Indigenous Art examines the history of Indigenous visual culture in Winnipeg, with specific emphasis on visual art projects related to Indigenous-led social advocacy during the 1980s and 1990s. A related and yet to be titled Canada Council for the Arts-funded project involves working with artists who were active in Winnipeg between 1970-1996 to collect audio- and photo-based stories about Indigenous art histories in the city. This time period represents a gap in recorded history related to Indigenous artistic production in Winnipeg, which the project will address. These stories will be shared through an interactive online platform that will launch in its first iteration in summer/fall 2023.

Morrissette is also leading a team of researchers on a partnership with artist run centres in Canada to examine questions about how to meaningfully implement Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives (EDI) and governance. Our collective work will address barriers and disparities within past and present governance models to inform future policy and program design within the arts.

Morrissette holds a PhD from York University in Social and Political Thought. She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director for two programs at OCAD University: Criticism and Curatorial Practices (MFA) and Contemporary Art, Design, and New Media Art Histories (MA).

In her spare time, Morrissette is developing a line of functional ceramic ware called sznnnnzs. Some of this work is occasionally available for sale on this website, and can also be found at Craft Ontario and the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions:
2022. What does good work look like? with Clayton Morrissette. Gallery 44, Toronto.
2022. translations. daphne art centre, Montreal.
Group Exhibitions:
2023. one and the same in the exhibition More Than Human, curated by Jane Tingley, Onsite Gallery, OCAD University.
2022. Where they begin I continue in the exhibition FLOW, curated by Jesse King, ASpace Gallery/imagineNATIVE Film + Media Art Festival.
2022. poplar/poplar and study for knowing in the exhibition Lii Zoot Tayr (Other Worlds), curated by Jessie Short and Amy Malbeuf, Art Gallery of York University.
2022. where they begin I continue, in the exhibition FLOW, imagineNATIVE Indigenous Film and Media Arts Festival, Toronto.
2021. poplar/poplar and study for knowing in the exhibition Lii Zoot Tayr (Other Worlds), curated by Jessie Short and Amy Malbeuf, Agnes Etherington Gallery, Kingston.
2016. one and the same, in the exhibition wnoondwaamin [we hear them], curated by Lisa Myers, Trinity Square Video.
2016. score for bottom of a lake [translation], in the exhibition Noodaagun Beacons, curated by Jason Ryle, NAISA: Cross Waves + Trinity Square Video, Toronto
2015. score for bottom of a lake [translation] and manuscript paper - grid I-III, in the exhibition Owning with the Gaze, curated by Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Gallery 101, Ottawa.
2014. score for bottom of a lake [translation] I-III and sketch for score for bottom of a lake I-XV, in the exhibition 2014 Rabbit Island Residency Exhibition, curated by Melissa Matuscak, DeVos Museum, Marquette, MI, USA.
2013. birds and noise, in the exhibition Sidewalk Screenings, curated by Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Golboo Amani and Mohammad Rezaei, Whippersnapper Gallery, Toronto.
2013. Keewatin is not equal to Keewatin and Red Lake is not equal to Red Lake, in the exhibition North of Here, curated by Patrick MacCauley, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto.
2012. stores of place, location, and knowledge I-III, in the exhibition Lake Effect: Rurality and Ecology in the Great Lakes, curated by Dylan Miner, SCENE Metrospace, East Lansing, MI, USA.
2012. Toronto-Berlin: 1982-2012, curated by Rae Johnson and Henrjeta Mece, Zweigstelle Berlin, Berlin.
2011. solve, for some, in the exhibition Best Before, curated by Lisa Myers, Graduate Gallery, Toronto.
2010. Urban Shaman Retrospective, curated by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg.

Education

2017. PhD, Social and Political Thought, York University, Toronto.
2011. MFA, Criticism and Curatorial Practices, OCAD University, Toronto.
2009. BFA, General Fine Art, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver.