Thinking through ideas of transference Jake Kimble’s latest exhibition Pick It Up, Quick is an exploration of knowledge absorption and the multiple ways the artist attempts to hold onto memory. Kimble, a Dënesųłinë́ multidisciplinary artist from Treaty 8 Territory brings together video, traditional photography, and experimental prints on paper towel to make up a show that posits the question ‘how do we store memory within our bodies, mind, and spirit?’. Featured in the exhibition is the artists Setsuné (‘Grandmother’ in the artists Chipewyan language), landscapes from the land where the artist was raised, and humorous idioms and adages that speak to the existential nature of what it means to be alive. Through a clever subversion of the everyday aesthetics Kimble plays with language and ambiguity – something that comes natural with them being a two-spirited artist. Using a funny bone as a tool, Kimble excavates themes of existentialism, narcissism, and the strange, offering an invitation to the audience to examine the absurdities that exist within the everyday so that they too may exhale, unclench, and even chuckle in the spaces where laughter is often lost.
In partnership with the 2025 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which takes place June 3-8, 2025 (Toronto) and June 9-15, 2025 (online)! Get Festival access here: https://imaginenative.org/festival/box-office/
Jake Kimble
Jake Kimble is a multidisciplinary Chipewyan (Dënesųłıné) artist and curator from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories. Kimble belongs to the Deninu K’ue First Nation
and currently lives, works, and shoots on the stolen territory of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They hold a degree in Acting from Vancouver Film School as well as a BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. They completed residencies at the Burrard Art Foundation, Vancouver, and the Banff Centre for Arts + Creativity, Alberta, and were the co-curator of the 2024 Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA). Kimble’s work has been exhibited in various group and solo exhibitions across Canada and can be found in notable collections such as the TD Collection, the Scotiabank Collection, and in the Art Gallery of Hamilton.