Aylan Couchie

Aylan Couchie (she/her) is a Nishnaabekwe interdisciplinary artist, curator and writer hailing from Nipissing First Nation. She is a NSCAD University alumna where she completed her BFA in sculpture and installation in 2016.  In 2018 she achieved an MFA in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design program at OCAD University where she focused her thesis on culture and social media’s role in reconciliation and its relationship to monument and public art. She’s entering her 5th year of study at Queen’s University where’s she’s a PhD Candidate in the Cultural Studies program researching land+language+Indigenous placemaking through mapping, gaming and public art.
 
Couchie has been the recipient of several awards including an “Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture” award through the International Sculpture Centre and a Premier’s Award through Ontario Colleges. In 2023, she was chosen by Queen’s University as their sole nominee for the annual SSHRC Talent Award. She is a committee member of Nipissing First Nation’s Language and Culture committee and a Board Member for Native Women in the Arts where she served as Board Chair from 2018 to 2020. She’s a single Mom to three boys and Gookmis (Grandmother) of four. She splits her time living and working between her Nbisiing home community in Northern Ontario and Tkarón:to where she is employed as Assistant Professor of Indigenous Digital Art, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto.