The artist Jobena Petonoquot, winner of the 5th edition of the Residency Impressions

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), with the support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), is pleased to announce that the artist Jobena Petonoquot has been selected to carry out a research and creation project under the residency program Impressions. Every year since 2013, the Museum has invited an emerging artist in the visual arts from one of Montreal’s culturally diverse or Indigenous communities to take a unique and original look at the Museum’s collections through creation.

From January to March 2018, Jobena Petonoquot, a Montreal artist of Algonquin descent, will explore the history of relations between Indigenous peoples and Canadians of European descent through the Museum’s collection of Quebec and Canadian art. Created using the ancestral technique of beading, her works aim to assert the place of First Nations people in a post-colonial world.

The Impressions residency

The Impressions residency is for professional artists who have core training in the arts and whose abilities have been recognized by their peers. For eight weeks, the artists create, perform or publish works for public presentation, devote themselves primarily to the practice of their art, and are remunerated for their creations.

The residency has served as a springboard for several emerging artists representing Montreal’s cultural diversity: Ari Bayuaji, winner in 2016-2017; Pansee Atta, winner in 2015-2016; Naghmeh Sharifi, winner in 2014-2015; and Karen Tam, winner in 2013-2014.

The current project has received the financial support of both the MMFA and the Conseil des arts de Montréal, thanks to which the artist in residence will enjoy a grant worth $7,000. Every year, the resident is selected by a jury composed of a member from each of the organizations involved. The person selected will be given the opportunity to display the results of their work as an exhibition on the mezzanine of the Maison du Conseil des arts de Montréal.