Jade Mikell

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JADE MIKELL (b. 1996) is a disabled artist and activist working within institutional critique. She lives on unceded Lək̓ʷəŋən land by way of unceded Taystayič. She earned her BFA with Distinction from the University of Victoria in 2023. Mikell investigates inheritance, labour, hierarchy, identity, community, social currency and sustainability. She cites her lived experiences in an Anthroposophic community and undergoing ABA therapy to identify, upend and communicate the demoralising and endangering effects of institutional inaccessibility. Mikell inspects the moral inadequacy assigned to disability in these environments through repurposing associated semiotics, often posited to have curative effect. in production, Mikell evaluates the history of material. She locates supplies entirely from sources interrupting the sequence of consumption and disposal, emphasising upcycled, salvaged, and repurposed materials. Subverting performative exceptionalism and aesthetic focus has directed Mikell to reflect on how accessibility and sustainability often conflict. Her work intends to question how we might practise sustainability and conservation without relying on exclusion and exceptionalism. Jade Mikell’s work has been exhibited and collected internationally. Her work has been exhibited by Visionary Projects NYC, The Fifty Fifty Arts Collective, Audain Gallery, Esquimalt Art Gallery, the Denman Island Arts Centre, B.L.O.C.K.H.O.U.S.E. and more. Her most recent solo exhibition, Vuelve, Oración en el Cielo opened earlier this year at El Sur in México City. Her work has been published on ArtConnect, Parrot Art, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and more. Mikell is the recipient of an Innovate Grant Honourable Mention and a MyMa Grant Honourable Mention.