Profile: Darcie Bernhardt
Photo courtesy of Darcie Bernhardt
Hailing from Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories and now based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, emerging visual artist and curator Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt has already achieved a staggering amount of success in the Inuit art world. After obtaining a Fine Arts Certificate from Yukon College in 2013, Darcie enrolled in NSCAD University where they graduated in 2019 with a BFA specializing in drawing and painting. While still a student, Darcie opened their solo show, Ouiyaghasiak, which explored intimate scenes from their childhood in Gwich’in and Inuvialuit at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax (February 2019).
Shortly after opening their solo show, Darcie was able to travel to Montreal for a week-long artist residency followed by an inclusion in the group installation Memory Keepers I at the Nuit Blanche Festival in Montreal in March 2019, a project curated by the GLAM Collective and made possible through Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership.
“What haven’t I done so far?” they say when asked about their time as an Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuk. “Since I first started [with Inuit Futures] I was able to go be a part of the first Memory Keepers at Nuit Blanche, which was a very intensive residency for me. It was a great crew and it really resonated with me how well we worked together.”
Following their first installation, Darcie joined a cohort of young Inuit students and emerging arts professionals on a trip to Venice, Italy to witness firsthand the historic opening of Isuma Film Collective’s exhibition at the Canada Pavilion in the Giardini di Biennale. The Summer Institute in Venice culminated in the publication of the Venice Biennale Special Issue of Inuit Art Quarterly, the first ever all-Inuit issue of IAQ based on the Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuit’s experiences and conversations with other circumpolar artists. Later that summer, Darcie and fellow Inuit Futures Ilinniaktuk Megan Kyak-Monteith served as curatorial assistants for Memory Keepers II at Art in the Open in Charlottetown, PEI in August 2019.
Darcie Bernhardt works on their drawings for Greed Story (2019), part of Memory Keepers I, Concordia University, Montreal QC, March 2019. Photo by Ossie Michelin.
Darcie and Tom with Greed Story (2019), their collaboration for Memory Keepers I, Concordia University, Montreal QC, March 2019. Photo by Ossie Michelin.
After graduating from NSCAD University, Darcie was the featured artist for the Inuit Art Foundation titled Nanuk and Jijuu at Art Toronto in October 2019.
“Art Toronto was more of a spotlight than I’d ever had before, I really appreciated that,” they say of the experience. “Having people interested in my work makes me want to make more.”
The weekend at Art Toronto proved to be a success, with the Royal Bank of Canada Corporate Collection acquiring their abstract painting Daydreaming about Icefishing (2018). Although Daydreaming was not among the featured work at the booth, the RBC curators expressed interest in their paintings and made the selection after discovering more of their pieces on Instagram.
Darcie continues to develop their practice and has expanded their range to include lithograph prints, video animation, short films, and curatorial work. In 2020, Darcie was part of RBC’s Emerging Artist Projects From Within and won the Indigenous Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia. They have collaborated with musical group Silla and Rise for the EVERYSEEKER’s Call + Response series (2021) and the music video for Pandemonium (2021). Most recently, their work can be seen in INUA, the inaugural exhibition at Qaumajuq, the new Inuit Art Centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (2020-2021).
Darcie Bernhardt and Jason Sikoak sketching by the canal in Venice, May 2019. Photo by Amanda Shore.
Darcie Bernhardt with Greed Story (2019), by Darcie Bernhardt and Tom McLeod, installed in FoFA Gallery vitrine, Concordia University, Montreal, QC. Nuit Blanche 2019. Photo by Ossie Michelin.
Darcie’s interview with four Sami artists and cultural workers at the Venice Biennale were featured in the IAQ Special Issue 2019 alongside their oil pastel drawings from Venice.