Jordan Bennett is a Mi’kmaq visual artist from Stephenville Crossing, Ktaqamkuk (Newfoundland). He lives and works on his ancestral territory of Mi’kma’ki in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia with his partner in life and art Amy Malbeuf. Bennett’s practice utilizes painting, sculpture, textiles, video, installation, public art and sound to explore land, language, the act of visiting, familial histories and challenging colonial perceptions of Indigenous histories and presence with a focus on exploring Mi’kmaq and Beothuk visual culture of Ktaqamkuk. In the past 10 years Bennett has participated in over 90 group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally such as the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2019); The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (2018); Smithsonian-National Museum of the American Indian, NYC (2017); The Winnipeg Art Gallery (2017); MAC-VAL, Paris (2017); Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2015); Project Space Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne (2014); Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe (2013); The Power Plant, Toronto (2013); Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2013); The Museum of Art and Design, New York (2012); and was one of two artists to represent Newfoundland and Labrador in the 2015 Venice Biennial at Galleria Ca’Rezzonico as part of the official Collateral Events.
He has been the recipient of several awards and honours most notably the co-winner of the 2020 Sobey Art Award, a Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL award (2017) and presented with the 2014 Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Councils Artist of the Year.