Maria Hupfield : Jingle Spiral

Maria Hupfield was born in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada in 1975.  She works across disciplines such as video, performance, and industrial felt.  After ten years of living in Brooklyn, NY, Maria has returned to Canada, and resides in Toronto. She identifies as an urban Anishinaabe who belongs to the Wasauksing First Nation (Huron Robinson Treaty) in Ontario.

Jingle Spiral (2015) (pictured above) references the Ojibwe sacred powwow dress.  Such dresses feature hundreds of metal cones that creae a soothing sound when the dancer moves.  In her 2017 exhibition at the Power Plant in Toronto, Jingle Spiral was presented mounted on the wall as well as in a performance video. Watch the video at this link.

Maria Hupfield is assistant professor in Indigenous Performance and Media Art at the University of Toronto in Mississauga where she runs the Indigenous Creation Studio and is also the Director and Lead Arrtist in the Department of Visual Studies / English and Drama.  As well, she works with graduate students at the St. George Campus of U of T.  Hupfield states:  "My research brings together studio based practices and processes with expansive definitions of art that are informed by knoweldge from nations connected to the campus in the Great Lakes region."  

Maria Hupfield is number 9 in the Canadian Arists who work with Textiles series.