Edward Poitras - Visual Artist

The work of Edward Poitras has been included in many important group exhibitions (Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art, Canadian Pavilion at Expo '86) and almost every major contemporary Native art exhibit of the last 20 years. In 1995, he represented Canada (the first Aboriginal artist to do so) at the prestigious Venice Biennale.

The 48-year-old, Regina-born Poitras is a treaty Indian of Métis ancestry and a member of the Gordon First Nation. In the late 1970s, he studied at the Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon and in the Native Arts and Communication Department of Manitou College in La Macaza, Quebec. In 1982, Poitras' pieces were included in the MacKenzie Art Gallery's “New Work by a New Generation,” one of the first exhibitions in Canada to recognize contemporary Native artists across North America.
The themes of assimilation, genocide, displacement and survival permeate the artist's work. He explores tensions between past and present, nature and technology, western culture and First Nations cultures, combining natural materials with manufactured objects.

Edward Poitras worked as a graphic designer for New Breed Magazine in the 1980s and has been an art instructor at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College and the Universities of Regina and Manitoba. He staged the Artist-in-Residence exhibition at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in 1985 and has exhibited at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the National Museum of the American Indian in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in Tampere, Finland. Currently, Poitras works collaboratively with artists in the Regina area. In recent years, he has been instrumental in organizing a number of exhibitions that address issues of the land. Edward Poitras is a 2002 recipient of the Governor Generals award in visual arts.