Donna James
Photo Credit: Lisa N. Mills
Artist Profile
Donna
James
Donna James is an Ottawa based multi-disciplinary artist known for her video and photographic body of work, which spans over 30 years. She is best known for her experimental video Maigre Dog that has been exhibited at festivals and galleries nationally and internationally.
James was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1960 and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada from the age of three. She attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA 1984) and undertook graduate studies in Architecture at the University of Calgary.
Her art practice has evolved from documentary portraiture to a more personal exploration of storytelling, oral history, language, and the construction of self through experimental video and film/video installation. Her work privileges storytelling and memory, a key element in the politics of representation, particularly for people of colour whose representation has often been dictated by others.
Along with her artistic production she has also devoted a considerable part of her career supporting the Canadian independent film/video community through working in various federal funding programs.
Her videos are in numerous public collections across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Oakville Galleries, the Alberta College of Art and York University.
2022
Tell the Body
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2021
Two Truths and a Lie
Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
On the Other Side: It’s Heaven
Curatorial Incubator: VTape, Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2018
We’ll All Become Stories: A Survey of Art in the Ottawa-Gatineau Region
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2017
The Last Picture Show
SAW Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2003
Rest and Be Thankful
INSTALLATION
Shifts and Transfers: On some tendencies in Canadian video/ Mouvements de translation: Sur quelques pratiques de la vidéo canadienne
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2002
Fringe From The Hill: Experimental Films and Video From Ottawa-Gatinea
Available Light/Club SAW, Ottawa, Perimeter Festival, Ed Video, Guelph, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Magnetic North: Canadian Experimental Video (Touring):
Huashan Arts District, Taipei, Taiwan
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2001
Magnetic North: Canadian Experimental Video (Touring):
Canadian Contemporary Museum of Photography, Ottawa
Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario
Art Gallery of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Festival International du Film sur l@Art, Montréal (Québec)
University Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive,
Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Wexner Centre for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Up Close and/or Personal: Small Video from Ontario
Centre for Art Tapes, Halifax, Nova Scotia
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
2000
Lettered Hearts
VIDEO PRODUCTION
Magnetic North: Canadian Experimental Video
Walker Art Centre, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Video Pool Inc, Plug In, Winnipeg, Manitoba
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Chicks ‘n Flicks
Ottawa Women’s Film Festival, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1998
The Thickness of Guidance
VIDEO PRODUCTION
1997
Strange Attractors: Observations on Video Art in Ottawa/Hull
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Black Women in the Visual Arts
YYZ, Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1996
Brevity
Video In Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Domestic Bliss
Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1995
Rhythms
Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
African Women in Film & Video
National Theatre of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1994
Home: An Exhibition Of Work By SAW Artist-Members
Galerie SAW Video, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
African-Canadian Video and Film Festival
SAW Video Co-op, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Centre National d`art Contemporaire
Grenoble, France
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Body and Soul/Corps et Ame
Independent Film and Video Alliance Showcase '94, Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Searching for my mother's garden
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
4th Annual African-American Women's Conference of the Arts
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1993
Work to Live
Commissioned by 8th Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts
VIDEO PRODUCTION
Mayworks ‘93: 8th Annual Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts
Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
IMAGES 93
Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Tradition and Desire: Recent Video by Donna James and Buseje Bailey
Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
New Video From Calgary
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1992
Whispers of Kisses
VIDEO PRODUCTION
NATION The Independent Film and Video Alliance Showcase 12th Edition
Montreal, Quebec
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
CELAFI Film and Video Festival
Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
In‑Sight 92: Edmonton's Annual Women's Film and Video Festival
Edmonton, Alberta
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1991
IMAGES 91
Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
1990
Maigre Dog
VIDEO PRODUCTION
New Work: Canadian Video Art
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
~Re; Generation
Agnes Etherington Gallery, Kingston, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
10th Anniversary Showcase The Independent Film and Video Alliance
Toronto, Ontario
VIDEO: exhibitions / festival
Ain’t I a Woman
A Space, Toronto, Ontario
PHOTOGRPAHY: EXHIBITIONS (Solo)
1988
Ain’t I a Woman
Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
PHOTOGRPAHY: EXHIBITIONS (Solo)
1984
Eight Men In A Big House
Anna Leonowens Gallery, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia
PHOTOGRPAHY: EXHIBITIONS (Solo)