Background

Jordan Bennett was born in 1986 in Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland, Canada.

Education

Jordan Bennett received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Grenfell Campus of the Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2008. Eight years later he obtained a Master of Fine Arts Degree at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Besides, Bennett took part in the Earthline Tattoo Training Residency.

Career

Jordan Bennett has presented his artworks invariably inspired by Mi’kmaq and Beothuk culture and performed all over the world, including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Smithsonian-National Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Art and Design, Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal (Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal), and elsewhere. In 2015, he took part in Venice Biennial as one of the two representatives of Newfoundland and Labrador.

During his career, he has participated in various residency programs for artists, the most recent from which is 2019 NSCAD Lithography Workshop: Contemporary Editions, Halifax. Bennett has also collaborated with many artists, including his wife Amy Malbeuf and a Nlaka'pamux artist Dion Kaszas. Together, they established an Indigenous tattoo collective and residency Earthline Tattoo whose main goal is to revive Indigenous cultural tattoo traditions in Canada.

In addition to gallery artworks, Jordan Bennett has many public projects to his credit, including murals, sculptures, and installations, like the artwork he has made for the Dartmouth Sportsplex of the City of Halifax.

Achievements

• Jordan Bennett is an accomplished artist and performer who has managed to reflect his native Mi’kmaq and Beothuk culture through various artistic media. He plays an important role in the preservation of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk cultural traditions.
  
  Bennett has been shortlisted and longlisted for many awards and honorable mentions during the course of his career, like the 2014 Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Councils Artist of the Year, the 2015 and 2016 Sobey Art Award, a Hnatyshan Foundation REVEAL award, and Sobey Art Award of 2018.

Works

More photos

• artwork

  • Pjila'si

  • Tepkik

  • Mila'muksijik Kawiik (Coloured Quills)

• drawing

  • Honour Song-Dutcher

  • Pendant in ink

  • Pendant study

• painting

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Exquisite Lid-VII

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Cedar Stargate-Unknown

  • Cedar Stargate-Stein

  • Pre Bidding Colour Theory

  • Gep’t’g- Frozen Over

  • Nisqunamuk Kmtn

  • Sylix Sikwan

Views

Quotations: "I don’t want to just be known as a painter, you know? For me, it always comes down to the story I’m trying to tell. I could tell the exact same story in various mediums, but I sit with the idea, sit with the concept and think about the history of each material to choose the appropriate avenue to go."

"I’ve never confined myself to a medium. I kind of let the idea speak and come out in the way that it needs to."

"I’m definitely an artist from Mi’kmaki. I grew up in Ktaqamkuk (Stephenville Crossing), Newfoundland, and I have family here in Nova Scotia and ancestry here from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and vice versa. So all Mi’kmaq territory is definitely home."

"Inspiration comes to me from many places. Usually it comes from talking with friends, fellow artists, skateboarding, and taking part in my Aboriginal community. A lot of my inspiration also comes from being current with issues in and around popular culture, and political issues around Aboriginal Culture."

Personality

Jordan Bennett characterizes himself as a quiet and not public person.

Connections

Jordan Bennett is married to a Métis visual artist Amy Malbeuf.

Wife:

Amy Malbeuf