duane linklater
1976, Omaskêko Ininiwak from Moose Cree First Nation, Ontario, Canada
Duane Linklater’s practice explores and questions the conventions of the museum in relation to the current and historical conditions of Indigenous peoples, their objects, and approaches to materials. Strategically working across a range of media, including sculpture, installation, painting, and video, he addresses the contradictions of contemporary Indigenous life within and beyond settler systems of knowledge, representation, and value.
Linklater was featured in the 2022 Whitney Biennial: Quiet as It's Kept, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. In 2018, he installed pêyakotênaw—a public artwork comprising three large teepee sculptures—along the High Line in New York. He received a BA in Native Studies and Fine Arts from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and an MFA in Film and Video from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He was the 2016 recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for Media Art, and the 2013 Sobey Art Award winner. In 2017, Linklater was awarded a public commission for the Don River Valley Park, Toronto.
Linklater lives and works in North Bay, Ontario.
duane linklater
teŝipitâkan_cache_1, 2024
scaffolding, scrim, 7 paintings, 5 sculptures, performance
duane linklater
they have piled the stone as they promised without syrup 4, 2023
digital print on linen, cochineal, tea, sumac, charcoal, wool and blanket
duane linklater
porcupines for the soul, 2022
canvas, tarpaulin, industrial strap, cochineal, tea, porcupine quills, thread, steel
duane linklater
bugjuice, 2021
digital print on linen, cochineal dye, yellow ochre, honey, charcoal, nails
duane linklater
winter in america_no door_âkamenimok, 2020
digital print on hand dyed linen, black tea and sumac dye, charcoal, cup and saucer ochre, iron red pigment, dandelion, nail
duane linklater
primaryuse, 2020
lcd screens, television stands, media players, spray paint, stones, 3 super 8mm film transfers to 2k video with audio, score by eagles with eyes closed
duane linklater
dislodgevanishskinground, 2019
12 tipi poles, steel cable, white paint, charcoal, rope, digital print on linen, black tea, blueberry extract, sumac, charcoal
duane linklater
boys don't cry, 2017
digital print on hand dyed linen
duane linklater
the place I seek to go, 2014
coyote fur, garment rack, hanger, flat screen tv, mac mini, hd video loop, cables
He has presented solo exhibitions such as: mâcistan, Secession, Vienna, Austria (2025); traveled to Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2026); 12 + 2, Dia: Chelsea, New York (2025); akâmi–, Camden Art Centre, London, in collaboration with Ethel (Trapper) Linklater, Tobias Linklater and Grey Plumes (2025); mymothersside, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington (2021), traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA Chicago) (2023); and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California (2023); they have piled the stone / as they promised / without syrup, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (2023); Field Station: Duane Linklater, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University (2017); Apparatus for the circulation of Indigenous voices and ideas into the air, Western Front, Vancouver, Canada (2017); From Our Hands, Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada (2016); salt 11: Duane Linklater, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City (2015); It means it is raining, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2015), among others.
installation view of duane linklater: mâcistan, secession, vienna, 2025.
photo: iris ranzinger
installation view of duane linklater: mâcistan, secession, vienna, 2025.
photo: iris ranzinger
installation view of duane linklater: mâcistan, secession, vienna, 2025.
photo: iris ranzinger
installation view of duane linklater: 12 + 2, dia chelsea, new york, 2025.
photo: zach hyman
installation view of duane linklater: 12 + 2, dia chelsea, new york, 2025.
photo: zach hyman
installation view of duane linklater: 12 + 2, dia chelsea, new york, 2025.
photo: zach hyman
installation view of duane linklater: akâmi-duane linklater with ethel (trapper) linklater, tobias linklater and grey plumes, camden art centre, london 2025. photo: rob harris
installation view of duane linklater: akâmi-duane linklater with ethel (trapper) linklater, tobias linklater and grey plumes, camden art centre, london 2025. photo: rob harris
installation view of duane linklater: akâmi-duane linklater with ethel (trapper) linklater, tobias linklater and grey plumes, camden art centre, london 2025. photo: rob harris
installation view of duane linklater: mymothersside, berkeley art museum and pacific film archive (bampfa), california, 2023. photo: whit forrester
installation view of duane linklater: mymothersside, berkeley art museum and pacific film archive (bampfa), california, 2023. photo: whit forrester
installation view duane linklater: mymothersside, berkeley art museum and pacific film archive (bampfa), california, 2023. photo: whit forrester
installation view of duane linklater: mymothersside, museum of contemporary art chicago (mca), 2023. photo: tom van eynde
installation view of duane linklater: mymothersside, museum of contemporary art chicago (mca), 2023. photo: tom van eynde
installation view of duane linklater: mymothersside, museum of contemporary art chicago (mca), 2023. photo: tom van eynde
installation view of duane linklater in quiet as it's kept, whitney biennial, new york, 2022. photo: ron amstutz
installation view of duane linklater in quiet as it's kept, whitney biennial, new york, 2022. photo: ron amstutz
installation view of duane linklater in quiet as it's kept, whitney biennial, new york, 2022. photo: ron amstutz
installation view of duane linklater: mymotherside, frye art museum, seattle, 2021. photo: jueqian fang
installation view of duane linklater: mymotherside, frye art museum, seattle, 2021. photo: jueqian fang
installation view of duane linklater: mymotherside, frye art museum, seattle, 2021. photo: jueqian fang
installation view of duane link later: soft power, san francisco museum of modern art (sfmoma), 2019. photo: don ross
installation view of duane link later: soft power, san francisco museum of modern art (sfmoma), 2019. photo: don ross
installation view of duane link later: soft power, san francisco museum of modern art (sfmoma), 2019. photo: don ross
Linklater has been featured in group exhibitions including the 35th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Of Mythic Worlds: Works from the Distant Past through the Present, The Drawing Center, New York (2023); 2022 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Native America: In Translation, Princeton University Museum of Art, New Jersey (2022); SOFT POWER, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (2019); Danica Barboza, Jason Hirata, Yuki Kimura, Duane Linklater, Artists Space, New York (2019); 10th Liverpool Biennial, United Kingdom (2018); In Search of Expo 67, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Canada (2017); SeMa Biennale, Seoul (2016); Many things brought from one climate to another, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (2015); Residue: The Persistence of the Real, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada (2015); and Modest Livelihood, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta, Canada, as part of dOCUMENTA (13) (2012).
