Althea Thauberger
Research Area
Education
MFA (UVic)
BFA (Concordia)
About
Althea Thauberger is an artist, filmmaker and educator known for place-based experimental documentary projects that emerge from collaborative research and production processes. Her work—spanning photography, film, video, and performance—explores relationships between community stories and geopolitical histories. She was born in Saskatoon, and is of settler Scandinavian and Black Sea German descent.
Thauberger’s recent exhibitions include the Kaunas Biennial (2021); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2020); The Toronto Biennial of Art (2019), The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (2019); The National Gallery of Canada (2019); La musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2017), and the inaugural Karachi Biennale 2017.
Thauberger’s work has been the subject of numerous articles and reviews published by journals including Art Forum, Canadian Art, Tema Celeste, Flash Art, European Photography, Artnet Magazine, Frieze, the Guardian, C Magazine International, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, The Mainlander, and Flash Art. Her work has been the subject of monographs published by The Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; The Liverpool Biennale; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Artspeak, Vancouver; and Musagetes, Guelph.
“Althea Thauberger’s practice has evolved from documentary photography, where her recognizably striking portraiture belies the tension of a connection with the subjects of her images and her immersion as photographer within the environmental context of the image. Her methodology of image-making has consistently transitioned to large-scale international theatrical and performance productions, in sites rife with historical and social complexity. Thauberger’s position as co-director and co-producer is dependent on the relationships forged with fellow actors and audiences, creating an opening for complex community narratives to be performed and witnessed.”
-Kristy Trinier, 2019
Photo credit: Zinnia Naqvi
Teaching
Research
Photographic history and theory; documentary studies; collaborative/collective community research and production; place-based contemporary art, settler colonial studies, and archival studies.
Affiliation
Co-lead, Critical Image Forum Research Excellence Cluster