whitefeatherhunter.ca
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ABOUT
Photo credit: Matthew Brooks.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. WhiteFeather Hunter is an internationally recognized Canadian artist and researcher, holding a PhD through SymbioticA International Centre of Excellence in Biological Art (formerly at The University of Western Australia), and an MFA in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University, Montreal. Her doctoral thesis, “The Witch in the Lab Coat; Doubling, Doubling Toiling and Troubling the Narratives and Methodologies of Standard Scientific Research Practices” was a TechnoFeminist negotiation of science biocultures by using ‘taboo’ reproductive body fluids such as menstrual blood and menstrual stem cells in tissue engineering protocols; this included investigating witchcraft as performed resistance to medicalized control over women’s bodies. This laboratory research and artistic creation stemmed from her Master’s thesis project, Biomateria; Biotextile Craft, an innovative and award-winning body of work which utilized miniature handwoven human and horsehair scaffolds for tissue engineering purposes. Her most recent project, Sentient Clit—The Pussification of Biotech is an exploration of 3D-bioprinted clitorises embedded with menstrual stem cells that have been differentiated to neuronal cell types, to produce synthetic clitorises that respond intelligently to stimuli. This project was awarded an Ars Electronica 2024 S+T+ARTS Prize jury nomination. WhiteFeather has exhibited her work across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, most recently (solo) at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (UK), the Duende Art Museum (CH) with Jiabao Li; and Art Laboratory Berlin (DE) with Shu-Lea Cheang (with Ewan Chardronnet) and Lyndsey Walsh. She is regularly hosted at prestigious international biolabs, most recently the DZNE German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Wegmann Lab), and at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Lisbon (Graça Lab). WhiteFeather is invited to present her work at high profile festivals, conferences, and residencies across the globe, most recently at Romaeuropa (IT), TTTlabs BioFeral.BeachCamp (GR), FEMeeting 2024, Treadwell Books with Dr. Amy Hale, London (UK), Cultivamos Cultura, São Luis (PT), and delivered the opening keynote address for the Artistic Research Translation in the Sciences (ARTS) Society at the University of Calgary (CA). Her academic writing (and artwork) is published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, monographs and books in Australia, Greece, France, Denmark, Canada, US, and the UK, with forthcoming publications in Austria, Australia, and the UK.