Jess MacCormack’s interdisciplinary practice engages with the intersection of institutional violence and the socio-political reality of personal trauma. Born in BC, MacCormack was based in Montreal for most of their* career. Working with communities and individuals affected by stigma and oppression, MacCormack uses cultural platforms and distribution networks to facilitate collaborations which position art as a tool to engender personal and political agency.[1] Their videos Where We Were Not, Part I: Alexus’ Story (2011, 6 minutes), Love Is a Hunter (2010, 3 minutes), and Nothing Ever Happened (2009) have been exhibited internationally. Recent works integrate animation, video, painting and collage in social interventions and community productions that explore issues of criminalization, HIV/AIDS, racism, transphobia, sexual assault and mental health. MacCormack has an MFA in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies from the Bauhaus University (2008) and was an Assistant Professor of Studio Arts at Concordia University (2010-2013). In 2015, MacCormack was in residency at the Akadamie der Künste der Welt in Cologne, Germany. Their works are distributed by Groupe Intervention Vidéo (GIV).

[1] Artist website http://jessicamaccormack.com/ (consulted 2015)

*MacCormack uses the genderqueer pronoun "they."