Jeneen Frei Njootli

Jeneen Frei Njootli is an interdisciplinary Vuntut Gwitchin artist known primarily for their work with sound and textiles, performance, fashion, workshops, and barbeques.
Njootli uses "they/them" pronouns.
Work.
Njootli is a co-creator of the ReMatriate Collective, a group working toward better representation of Indigenous women in the media. Their work often focuses on the non-visible qualities, histories, and energy of the materials she uses and examines and animates their relationship to trade, ceremonial regalia, and the politics of First Nations art. Key themes in their art include Indigeneity in politics, community engagement and productive disruptions.
As one of the five finalist of the 2018 Sobey Art Award Njoottli's work, "wind sucked in through bared teeth" (2017) is included in an eponymous exhibition featuring the finalists at the National Gallery of Canada.
Njootli was chosen as a LandMarks2017 artist, creating the installation "Being Skidoo", which honoured and acknowledged skidoos as "tools and partners in travel." Being Skidoo was filmed on a journey into Vuntut National Park in April 2017.
In 2016, Njootli completed the Media Arts Residency at the Western Front, an artist-run centre in Vancouver.
Njootli has worked on several projects and presentations with artist Olivia Whetung. Whetung wrote "Fugitive Dust" to accompany Njootli’s solo exhibition "I Can’t Make You Those Mitts Because There Is a Hole in My Heart and My Hands Hurt" (2018).
Education.
Jeneen Frei Njootli completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Emily Carr University in 2012, and in 2010 completed an undergraduate exchange study at the Sydney College of Art in Australia. In 2017, they earned an M.F.A from the University of British Columbia. In 2016, they completed the Earth Line Indigenous Tattoo training residency.
Performance.
2018
2016
2015
2014
Awards and Honours.
In 2018, Njootli was the Sobey Art Award Finalist for the West Coast and Yukon categories. In 2017, Njootli was also longlisted for the Sobey Art Award for the West Coast and Yukon categories, and in the same year, awarded the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver's Artist Prize. In 2016, Njootli was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation, William & Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Canadian Artist Lectures, Workshops & Curating. 