Tania Willard is a mixed Secwépemc and settler artist/curator whose research intersects with land-based art practices. An Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBCO in Syilx territories (Kelowna, BC), her practice activates connection to land, culture, and family, centring art as an Indigenous resurgent act though collaborative projects such as BUSH Gallery and support of language revitalization in Secwépemc communities. Her artistic and curatorial work includes Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture at the Vancouver Art Gallery (2012-2014) and Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe (ongoing). Willard’s work is included in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Forge Project, Kamloops Art Gallery, and the Anchorage Museum, among others. In 2016, she received the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Award for Curatorial Excellence in Contemporary Art. In 2020, the Shadbolt Foundation awarded her their VIVA Award for outstanding achievement and commitment in her art practice, and in 2022, she was named a Forge Project Fellow for her land-based, community-engaged artistic practice.
Willard is currently part of the SEARA Advisory Network.