Curators Profile
Celina Jeffery
Celina Jeffery is a professor of art history and theory, curator, writer and editor based in Ottawa, Canada. In this role, she seeks to create new avenues of creative research and scholarship using curatorial strategies (online and in situ) as a springboard for interdisciplinary collaborations that seek to focus upon environmental degradation.
Port Talbot, WALES
About
I have curated over 15 exhibitions internationally, both in gallery spaces and non-traditional spaces. Preternatural (2012), comprised of five exhibitions at venues across Ottawa including the Canadian Museum of Nature. Other exhibitions include: Lines of Flight, at Hunter College, NYC, 2007 (winner of Leonardo curatorial competition); Afterglow (featuring Ghada Amer, Alfredo Jaar and Bill Viola, amongst others) in Lacoste, France, 2007; Wangechi Mutu: The Cinderella Curse at the ACA Gallery, Georgia, USA, 2007; and the international group show, Hold On, co-curated with Avantika Bawa at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, 2011.
Originally from Port Talbot in south Wales, I hold a Ph.D. in Art History and Theory from the University of Essex (2002), and am associate professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Ottawa, Canada. I co-founded and am editor of Drain Magazine: A Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture, 2004-Present. My new book, The Artist as Curator, was published by Intellect in Sept. 2015. I also co-edited Global and Local Art Histories, 2007 with Gregory Minissale.
Vision
In May 2015, I was the recipient of a four year SSHRC Insight Grant to support the research for Ephemeral Coast a project which identifies the coastline as a site and indicator of the radical shifts in geography as a result of environmental degradation.
Ephemeral Coast links coastal spaces internationally, including Wales, Mauritius, the USA, Mexico and Canada. and proposes that curating contemporary art is a unique process through which we may discover, analyze, re-imagine and re-frame the emotive discourses surrounding the ecological and cultural transformations of the coastline. Working with an array of artists, climate change scientists and thinkers from the humanities, the project seeks to develop a nexus of understanding between art, empathy, and the degradation of the ocean.
