Joseph Tisiga

Joseph Tisiga

The contents of which are unknowable to the human mind
2022
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm. (27½ x 27½ in.)
Precocious instincts instrumentalized by need
2022
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm. (27½ x 27½ in.)
It is not enough to possess, we must conquer, train and perform control, anything less is surely abject failure
2022
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm. (27½ x 27½ in.)
False hope nevertheless
2021
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 in.)
... but when I arrived I had something to do ...
2020
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 po.)
Enigmatic transformer
2021
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 in.)
A voice emerged from an empty room saying “get up”, telling me to “get up”. The apparition was paralyzing…
2020
Exhibition view
Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (Canada), photo : Maxime Brouillet
A voice emerged from an empty room saying “get up”, telling me to “get up”. The apparition was paralyzing…
2020
Exhibition View
Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (Canada)
A voice emerged from an empty room saying “get up”, telling me to “get up”. The apparition was paralyzing…
2020
Watercolour on paper
Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (Canada), photo : Maxime Brouillet
No Home in Scorched Earth (IV)
2014-2019
Digital print on wood panel, watercolour and plastic packaging
152.5 x 213 cm (60 x 84 in.)
Ritual discomfort
2018
Watercolour on paper
56 x 76 cm (22 x 30 in.)
No Home in Scorched Earth (II)
2019
Digital print on wood panel, watercolor and plastic packaging
152.5 x 213.5 cm (60 x 84 in.)
A joy to eat one's own tongue
2022
Plaster, watercolour and synthetic turf over wood panel
76.2 x 76.2 cm. (30 x 30 in.)
Untitled
2013
Oil on canvas
121.9 x 91.5 cm (48 x 36 in.)
The Benevolence of Nomadic Ancestors: 3 Masks, 3 Maps, 2 Camps (Map 3 of 3)
2019
Artificial grass and various objects
152.4 x 152.4 cm (60 x 60 in.)
Salpetre Beta Blocker
2016
Watercolor, acrylic and oil on paper
132 x 132 cm (52 x 52 in.)
In Lieu of Monuments Honour
2020
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 po.)
An elegance unknown to scoundrels
2014
Watercolour on paper
76 x 76 cm (30 x 30 in.)
The contents of which are unknowable to the human mind
2022
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm. (27½ x 27½ in.)
Precocious instincts instrumentalized by need
2022
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm. (27½ x 27½ in.)
It is not enough to possess, we must conquer, train and perform control, anything less is surely abject failure
2022
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm. (27½ x 27½ in.)
False hope nevertheless
2021
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 in.)
... but when I arrived I had something to do ...
2020
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 po.)
Enigmatic transformer
2021
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 in.)
A voice emerged from an empty room saying “get up”, telling me to “get up”. The apparition was paralyzing…
2020
Exhibition view
Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (Canada), photo : Maxime Brouillet
A voice emerged from an empty room saying “get up”, telling me to “get up”. The apparition was paralyzing…
2020
Exhibition View
Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (Canada)
A voice emerged from an empty room saying “get up”, telling me to “get up”. The apparition was paralyzing…
2020
Watercolour on paper
Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (Canada), photo : Maxime Brouillet
No Home in Scorched Earth (IV)
2014-2019
Digital print on wood panel, watercolour and plastic packaging
152.5 x 213 cm (60 x 84 in.)
Ritual discomfort
2018
Watercolour on paper
56 x 76 cm (22 x 30 in.)
No Home in Scorched Earth (II)
2019
Digital print on wood panel, watercolor and plastic packaging
152.5 x 213.5 cm (60 x 84 in.)
A joy to eat one's own tongue
2022
Plaster, watercolour and synthetic turf over wood panel
76.2 x 76.2 cm. (30 x 30 in.)
Untitled
2013
Oil on canvas
121.9 x 91.5 cm (48 x 36 in.)
The Benevolence of Nomadic Ancestors: 3 Masks, 3 Maps, 2 Camps (Map 3 of 3)
2019
Artificial grass and various objects
152.4 x 152.4 cm (60 x 60 in.)
Salpetre Beta Blocker
2016
Watercolor, acrylic and oil on paper
132 x 132 cm (52 x 52 in.)
In Lieu of Monuments Honour
2020
Watercolour on paper
70 x 70 cm (27.5 x 27.5 po.)
An elegance unknown to scoundrels
2014
Watercolour on paper
76 x 76 cm (30 x 30 in.)

Biography

Joseph Tisiga maintains a multidisciplinary practice that is rooted in painting and drawing, but also draws from performance, photography, sculpture, and installation. His work reflects upon notions of identity and what contributes to this construct–community, nationality, family, history, location, real and imagined memories. Tisiga’s works look at cultural and social inheritance, the mundane, the metaphysical and the mythological, often all at once and on the same surface. This conflation of interests and perspectives plays itself out in the artist’s narratives, which are distinctly non-linear, cross cultural and supernatural.

Joseph Tisiga is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal and a member of the Kaska Dena First Nation. Solo exhibitions have been presented at the Musée d’art de Joliette (Joliette), the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (East Lansing), the Audain Art Museum (Whistler), and Bradley Ertaskiran (Montreal). Other notable exhibitions include group shows at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Blackwood Gallery (Toronto), the Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg), MASS MoCA (North Adams), the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe), West Vancouver Museum (Vancouver), and the Manif d’art 11 Biennial (Québec). Tisiga’s work is found in institutional collections including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Forge Project (New York), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Audain Museum (Whistler), and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Tisiga is the recipient of The Yukon Art Prize (2021), the Sobey Art Award (2020), the REVEAL Indigenous Art Award (2017), and was a finalist for the Louis-Comtois Prize (2024).

Born in Edmonton, Canada, 1984

Lives and work in Montreal, Canada

Exhibitions

Press

Publications

Videos