Aylan Couchie
Assistant Professor
Aylan Couchie (she/her) is a Nishnaabekwe interdisciplinary artist, curator and writer hailing from Nipissing First Nation. She is a NSCAD University alumna and received her M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design at OCAD University where she focused her thesis on reconciliation and its relationship to monument and public art. She’s currently in her fourth year of study at Queen’s University where she’s working on her Ph.D in the Cultural Studies program researching areas of land+language+Indigenous placemaking through mapping, naming, digital public art and gaming.
Her research-based practice explores the intersections of colonial/First Nations histories of place, culture and Indigenous erasure as well as issues of (mis)representation and cultural appropriation. She’s been the recipient of several awards including an “Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture” award through the International Sculpture Centre and a Premier’s Award through Ontario Colleges. Most recently, she was chosen by Queen’s University as their nominee for the 2023 SSHRC Talent Award. She previously taught at OCAD University in the School of Graduate Studies and the Indigenous Visual Culture (INVC) program. She splits her time living and working between her home community of Nipissing First Nation in Northern Ontario and Tsi Tkarón:to.
Couchie is an Assistant Professor in the Media and New Media Studies Program in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and teaches in the Master of Visual Studies Program at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.