Capture is thrilled to announce the Audain Curatorial Fellowship that will allow the Festival to invite an equity-seeking Curator to work collaboratively with Capture’s Executive Director and Chief Curator, Emmy Lee Wall, towards the curation of a series of billboards featuring the work of both local and non-local culturally diverse artists. For the 2026 Festival, Capture has invited artist and curator Jake Kimble from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories, whose practice revolves around acts of self-care, self-repair, and gender-based ideological refusal.
Emmy Lee Wall states, “With the generous support of the Audain Foundation, this initiative will provide the space for an emerging to mid-career curator to explore the power of photography in a public space. We are incredibly grateful to the Audain Foundation, whose support will continue Capture’s initiative to present accessible engagement opportunities to enhance the visual literacy of our communities.”
“I am grateful to the Audain Foundation and Capture Photography Festival for selecting me to curate this year’s public billboard project. As a Chipewyan (Dënesųłıné) artist and curator, I’m excited to highlight, bring forth and shine a light on contemporary indigenous photography in this capacity. Mahsi Cho / Thank you,” comments Jake Kimble.
Michael Audain adds, “For over a decade, Capture Photography Festival has celebrated the photographic arts across our city. We hope that the new Audain Curatorial Fellowship position will increase their capacity to inspire thoughtful and emotive interactions between the public and lens-based visual artists.”
By working with an equity-seeking Curatorial Fellow, this project also provides a platform for the invited curator to learn from and shape Capture’s annual programming – amplifying diverse voices in public spaces for extended periods of time, as well as within Capture’s internal structure and decision-making processes.
About Jake Kimble
Jake Kimble is a multidisciplinary Chipewyan (Dënesųłıné) artist and curator from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories whose practice revolves around acts of self-care, self-repair, and gender-based ideological refusal. Kimble belongs to the Deninu K’ue First Nation and currently lives, works, and shoots on the stolen territory of xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Holding both a degree in Acting from Vancouver Film School as well as a BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art + Design Kimble imbues his work with a sense of theatricality and levity, which are core principles in their practice. Through a clever subversion of the everyday aesthetics, Kimble also plays with language and ambiguity – something that comes natural with them being a two-spirited artist. Using a funny bone as a tool, Kimble excavates themes of existentialism, narcissism, and the strange, offering an invitation to the audience to examine the absurdities that exist within the everyday so that they too may exhale, unclench, and even chuckle in the spaces where laughter is often lost.
They have completed residencies at the Burrard Art Foundation, Vancouver, and the Banff Centre for Arts + Creativity, Alberta, and was the co-curator of the 2024 Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA). Kimble’s work was featured on the King and Shaw Street billboards for the 2023 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, and was included in a group exhibition at the Audain Art Museum alongside Adad Hannah, Michelle Sound, and Jin-me Yoon for the 2024 Capture Photography Festival. Kimble’s work has been exhibited in various group and solo exhibitions across Canada, and can be found in notable collections such as the TD Collection, the Scotiabank Collection, and in the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
