Jessica MacCormack
Frequently engaging with communities and collectives, my practice eschews individual authorship in favour of collaboration. This has included an ongoing commitment to working with women and youth who are in conflict with the law, through the creation of art projects in prisons as well as at numerous centres that support marginalized people.
In 2008, I completed an MFA through the Public Art and New Artistic Strategies program at the Bauhaus University (Weimar, Germany). My work has been shown nationally and internationally in festivals, screenings, artist run centres and museums. I am currently employed as an Assistant Professor of Studio Arts at Concordia University.
From 2007 to 2010 I was facilitating workshops with various communities of marginalized women and youth. As artist in residence at Crossing Communities Art Project in Winnipeg, I facilitated the production of many individual and group artworks and videos. The projects address the interests and personal narratives of the participants while introducing new skills and concepts of art making. Some reoccurring themes in the women’s works were addictions, sexual abuse, overcoming obstacles, being transgendered, aboriginal issues, and violence against women. Through Crossing, I also facilitated video and art workshops with youth from the Nadinawe Centre, Gilbert Park and for The Urban Hip-Hop Project, as well as facilitating the creation of content for the NFB funded web project entitled Looking In Speaking Out. Some of the works I created with the women and youth were later presented in The Aboriginal Film Festival in Winnipeg, Imaginative film festival in Toronto, as well as the National Museum of the American Indian in NY.
To see some samples of videos made with the women and youth:
http://www.lookinginspeakingout.com/
Postcard project
Tonya
Heather
Alexus
DJ
Tonya
