Nina Leo

Nina Leo is a Canadian cross-disciplinary artist whose work examines societal shifts, the sensorial mechanisms that signal them, and how these shifts impact consciousness. Coupled with this tactile approach to ideology, is an enquiry into where political resistance begins.

Leo has shown her work in galleries and public institutions internationally, including Beyond/ In Western N.Y. 2010 Biennial, Kunsthaus Santa Fe (Mexico), Nuit Blanche (Toronto), The Lobby Gallery (Chicago), New Zero Arts Space (Yangon) and Al Fanoun Gallery (Abu Dhabi). She has received grants from The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council as well as the 2013 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Award for Short Prose (USA). She has participated in residencies including the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada) and the Ventspils International Writers’ Residency (Latvia). Over the past eight years, her olfactory research has developed through associations with the Monell Chemical Senses Center (P.A.) and the Institute for Art and Olfaction (L.A.). She has presented and published her research in Canada, the U.S, Italy, and the U.A.E. Currently, she is an associate professor within the Sculpture/ Installation undergraduate program and the Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design MFA program at OCAD University in Toronto. She has worked collaboratively for several years with artist and poet, Moez Surani. In 2023, they will present a solo exhibition of their new work, Summa, at WhiteBox Art Center, New York City.