Contributor

Jesse Birch is Curator of Nanaimo Art Gallery (2014–). He holds a BA in Fine Arts (Photography) from Emily Carr (2001), and a MFA in Art History (Critical and Curatorial Studies) from the University of British Columbia (2008). In 2007, he was a curatorial fellow at de Appel arts centre in Amsterdam. Birch was Co-Director/Curator of Access Gallery in Vancouver from 2008 to 2010 and Exhibitions Curator at Western Front from 2012 to 2014. He has also served on the Board of the Or Gallery (Vancouver) and has been active with the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres. Recent curatorial projects include a trilogy of contemporary art exhibitions about the resource industries that formed and fragmented communities across Vancouver Island and around the world. Birch has published in numerous exhibition catalogs and art magazines including C Magazine, Yishu, and fillip. In 2013, he received the Art Writing Award from Ontario Association of Art Galleries for his essay on artist Kika Thorne for the Art Gallery of Windsor. From 2009 to 2013, Birch taught at Emily Carr University in the Critical and Cultural Studies faculty.