About

Fogo Island Arts (FIA) is a contemporary arts and ideas organization on Fogo Island, located in Newfoundland & Labrador. Though Fogo Island is a settler community, it’s important to know that its territory is part of the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk and the island of Newfoundland is the ancestral homeland of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk. We also take this opportunity to recognize the Inuit of Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut and the Innu of Nitassinan, and their ancestors, as the original people of Labrador. 

Founded in 2008 as an artists residency program, Fogo Island Arts was created with the conviction that art and artists have the capacity to instigate social change and offer new perspectives on issues of contemporary concern. By facilitating collaborations and connections between a local and international network of practitioners and thinkers, Fogo Island Arts aims to provide relevant insights on questions of human relationships with place, nature, financial capital, and one another.

Fogo Island Arts’ residency program has grown into a full program of exhibitions, public programs, publications and focused research programs including the Fogo Island Dialogues and Summer Workshops, all of which aim to bridge connections between local and wider global communities. 

Fogo Island Arts is a charitable program of Shorefast, a registered Canadian charity with the mission to build economic and cultural resilience on Fogo Island, making it possible for local communities to thrive in the global economy. 

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Fogo Island

Fogo Island is an outport community: a small, remote coastal settlement unique to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Fogo Islanders are people of the sea who have made their living by fishing the frigid and often unforgiving waters of the North Atlantic. 

A non-capital-accumulating society until the latter decades of the 20th century, Fogo Islanders sustained themselves for generations by fishing as families and relying on an unrelenting sense of resourcefulness fed by a profound love of place. This history of relative isolation and self-sufficiency has shaped Fogo Islanders and the Fogo Island of today, and continues to inform the island’s economy and culture.

While Fogo Island is a settler community, its territory is part of the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk, and the island of Newfoundland (Ktaqmkuk) is the ancestral homeland of the Mi’kmaq and Beothuk. FIA also recognizes the Inuit of Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut and the Innu of Nitassinan, and their ancestors, as the original people of Labrador.

Contact Us

Shorefast

Advisory Board

Staff

Press

Artists

Amy Fung

Danai Anesiadou

Brenda Draney

Kate Newby

Thomas & Helke Bayrle

In this age of instability, inequality, and environmental crisis, artists’ contributions to culture, society and knowledge production are more urgent than ever. By offering new perspectives and ideas, artists can help us make sense of the world, refine our attention, and shift conventional thinking. Fogo Island Arts continues to focus on issues of global critical importance and is motivated by the conviction that art and artists make significant contributions to progressive society.

Abbas Akhavan

2019, 2016, 2013

Abdul Sharif Baruwa

2019

Agnes Walsh

2013

Aileen Burns

2011

Andreas Siqueland

2013, 2012, 2010

Anita Nowak

2013

Anna-Sophie Berger

2018

Armand Yervant Tufenkian

2023

Artur Żmijewski

2019, 2018

Ashes Withyman

2018

Aslan Gaisumov

2018

Augustas Serapinas

2016

Brenda Draney

2019, 2017

Brian Jungen

2017

Cana Bilir-Meier

2019

Candice Hopkins

2018

Charlene Hahne

2019

Charles Stankievech

2017

Chris Kabel

2014, 2012

Cooking Sections

2023

Corinna Schneider & Yannik Herter

2018

Corrie Jackson

2017

Danai Anesiadou

2012

Daniel Chew & Micaela Durand

2022

Darryn Doull

2015

David Kelley

2011

David Scott Kessler

2022

Edgar Leciejewski

2015, 2014

Eleni Bagaki

2019

Eli Kerr

2021

Elizabeth McIntosh

2017

Emily Pittman

2021

Endri Dani

2018

Erika Balsom

2014

Eva Giolo

2022

Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa

2023

Fernando López Escrivá

2022

Flaka Haliti

2015

Gabriele Langendorf

2019

Geoff Butler

2012

George van Dam

2014

Goran Petrović Lotina

2016, 2015

Hannah Rickards

2015, 2014, 2013, 2011

Holly Ward

2012

Ieva Epnere

2018, 2017

Isa Melsheimer

2017

Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn

2017

Jan Paul Evers

2017

Janice Kerbel

2014, 2013, 2011

Janique Vigier

2018

Jeremy Shaw

2018, 2016

Jerry Ropson

2013

Johan Lundh

2011

Joseph Del Pesco

2017

Jumana Manna

2018

Kablusiak

2022

Kari Cwynar

2014

Karimah Ashadu

2022

Karsten Födinger

2013

Kate Newby

2013, 2012

Katie Bethune-Leamen

2013, 2012

Katie Lawson

2023

Keren Cytter

2017

Keto Logua

2019

Kevin Schmidt

2012, 2010

L. Sasha Gora

2023

Larry Weyand

2021

Leander Schönweger

2015

Leon Kahane

2017

Leonor Antunes

2022

Lewis Hammond

2023

line kramer and marjolijn kok

2013

Lisa Oppenheim

2016

Lucy Pawlak

2013, 2012

Lyn Hughes

2012

Lyndon Barrois Jr.

2019

MAP Office

2016

Marco Bruzzone

2016

Maria Lisogorskaya

2023

Mark Clintberg

2014, 2013

Mark Lewis

Mark Mann

2015

Marko Lulić

2016, 2015

Marlene Creates

2017

Marta Arzak

2023

Michael Staniak

2018

Michael Van den Abeele

2022

Michele Di Menna

2015

Michelle Rawlings

2023

Mike Penton

2017

Minh Nguyen

2022

Monika Sosnowska 

2019

Murray Gaylard

2014

Nadia Belerique

2015

Nelson White

2021

Nico Ihlein

2015

Nicole Lattuca

2014

Nicole Travers

2021

Niko Abramidis & NE

2019

Nora N. Khan

2019

Oliver Lutz

2010

Oscar Enberg

2018

Pablo Alvarez-Mesa

2022

Patrick Staff

2012

Paul P.

2016

Pip Day

2023

Pó Rodil

2019

Rea Tajiri

2019

Ricardo Okaranza

2016

Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens

2016

Richard Sides

2022

Rob Crosse

2022

Robin Simpson

2012

Rory Middleton

2011

Samuel Thomas Martin

2012

Selma Makela

2011

Sharon Lockhart

2022

Shezad Dawood

2019

Siddhartha Das

2011, 2010

Sikarnt Skoolisariyaporn

2018

Silke Otto-Knapp

2014, 2012, 2011, 2010

Steffen Jagenburg

2018, 2013

Steve Cottingham

2016

Steve Rowell

2012

Sung Tieu

2022

Tak Pham

2023

Tamina Amadyar

2023

Tanya Talaga

2022

Teresa Baker

2022

Theodore Zachary Cotler

2013

Thomas Bayrle

2018

Tobias Spichtig

2013, 2012

Walter Scott

2016

Wilfrid Almendra

2015

Will Gill

2017

Willem de Rooij

2012

Yotaro Niwa

2015, 2014, 2013

Yulene Olaizola 

2011

Yvonne Mullock

2013, 2012, 2011, 2010

Zac Langdon-Pole

2018

Zachary Cahill

2018

Zin Taylor

2013, 2012, 2010

Zuza Golinska

2022

Residencies

Fogo Island Arts’ international residency program provides opportunities for artists from a wide range of disciplines to live and work on Fogo Island for periods ranging from two to four months. Artists-in-residence are provided with accommodation and studio space, as well as a weekly stipend to offset the costs of materials, shipping, and day-to-day living expenses. Most travel expenses are also covered. Artists-in-residence must give one public presentation, performance, workshop, or lead a similar event during their residency.

Most FIA artists-in-residence are selected through invitation and partnerships. A general call for applications for a limited number of residency spots is held every two years, while specific calls for applications made possible through partnerships are released regularly.

To receive notifications of calls for applications and other updates, please join our mailing list by signing up below.

Open Calls

Residency Partnerships

Digital Programs

Artists-in-Residence

Studios

Exhibitions

Wilfrid Almendra, Light Boiled Like Liquid Soap, 2016

Brenda Draney, Atlas, 2019. Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches. Photo courtesy the artist.

Ieva Epnere, On water, wind and faces of stone, 2018

Ieva Epnere

Abbas Akhavan, script for an island, 2019

Fogo Island Arts’ exhibition program includes major solo commissions and site-specific installations by selected participants of FIA’s international residency program. Exhibitions are presented at the Fogo Island Gallery, a 1200-square-foot space located in the Fogo Island Inn, as well as at offsite locations as part of FIA’s international outreach.

An artist monograph produced by FIA in collaboration with Sternberg Press (Berlin) accompanies most major exhibitions, helping to provide critical context for the understanding of each artist’s work.

In addition to major commissions, FIA invites emerging artists-in-residence to create a site-specific installation at the Fogo Island Gallery as the culmination of their residency. Emerging artist exhibitions are shorter in length and designed to foster space for experimentation and spontaneous intervention. They also provide mentorship opportunities through contact with FIA staff and Advisory Board members.

Gallery hours: 12 pm – 5 pm, Tuesday & Thursday
Admission is free

 

, The Big Church: Exploring possible futures for the former St. John the Evangelist Church

May 5, - July 31 2023

Artur Żmijewski, Glimpse and Workers

October 9 2022 - December 1, 2022

Nadia Belerique, Body in Trouble

July 29 2022- September 25 2022

Tanea Hynes & Ethan Murphy, The Shape of Desire

May 1 2022 - July 10, 2022

Shezad Dawood, Between Land & Sea

December 17, 2021 - April 17, 2022

Group Exhibition, Forecast: Rumors and Accounts of the Coronacene

October 8, 2021 – November 28, 2021

Group Exhibition, In limbo: reflections, labyrinths, and a small archive

September 10, 2021 - September 30, 2021

Abbas Akhavan, script for an island

October 12, 2019 – February 16, 2020

Brenda Draney, Smelling Salts

May 17, 2019 – September 2, 2019

Jumana Manna, Wild Relatives

December 23, 2018 – April 25, 2019

Ieva Epnere, On water, wind and faces of stone

June 22, 2018 – November 25, 2018

Isa Melsheimer, The Year of the Whale

March 9, 2018 – June 10, 2018

Group Exhibition, Belonging to a Place (2018)

February 15, 2018 - April 27, 2018

Group Exhibition, Belonging to a Place (2017)

June 22, 2017 – September 23, 2017

Marlene Creates, To the Blast Hole Pond River

May 18, 2017 – October 22, 2017

Augustas Serapinas, Four Sheds

December 23, 2016 – April 2, 2017

Wilfrid Almendra, Light Boiled Like Liquid Soap

March 25, 2016 - October 9, 2016

Leander Schönweger, Mirror

December 30, 2015 – February 27, 2016

Edgar Leciejewski, Tones

May 14, 2015 – December 12, 2015

Hannah Rickards, Grey light. Left and right back, high up, two small windows

September 24, 2014 – April 12, 2015

Silke Otto-Knapp, Questions of Travel

April 16, 2014 – August 31, 2014

Zin Taylor, The Story of Stripes and Dots (Chapter 5)

September 27, 2013 – March 23, 2014

Kate Newby, Let the Other Thing In

June 27, 2013 – September 8, 2013

Digital Programs

In response to the unprecedented social and economic impacts of the global pandemic on artists and arts professionals, this platform for discussion and engagement is an opportunity to support participants by offering fees, strengthening capacity to build networks, and increasing the exposure of work and ideas. Furthermore, by hosting programs online, FIA hopes to connect more geographically varied audiences and provide alternative modes for engaging with FIA’s programming. The Digital Program has three main facets:

The Lost & Found Agency features artists, professionals, and researchers from a variety of disciplines to hold a monthly public conversation and lecture series online. Events range from formal lectures to informal participatory conversations that encourage exchange in a peer-to-peer learning environment. The Lost & Found thematic engages key thinkers and makers addressing themes pertaining to decolonization, the climate crisis, alternate economies, reciprocity, new forms of democracy and democratic engagement, migration, and consensus building in the age of fake news, among other topics of the participants choosing.

The Digital Residency is a new virtual program that will offer opportunities, three months long in duration,  for artists, writers, filmmakers, curators, organizers, and other cultural workers. Selected participants will be offered the freedom to program a central part of the website and feature content of their choosing with the support or collaboration of FIA staff. Participants are offered a stipend in order to assists and encourage new production, as well as opportunities for exchange, exposure, collaboration and mentorship with members of FIA’s community.

The FIA Network, is an ever growing web that traces the work of FIA team and alumni beyond Fogo Island’s shores. The network serves as a central and active archive to circulate information about exhibitions, awards, appointments, publications, and other work produced by the FIA community.

In addition to public programs, regular sessions will be held internally for Shorefast staff and Fogo Island community members. While focused on art and contemporary ideas, these programs will be tailored towards issues of local concern, emphasizing open exchange, education, and capacity building for staff members and guests who may be less familiar with art.

FIA Network

Digital Residencies

Lost & Found Agency

Programs

Fogo Island Arts presents regular programs on Fogo Island, including artist talks, film screenings, open studios, educational workshops and special projects. Selected programs are presented in cities across Canada and abroad, including the Fogo Island Dialogues interdisciplinary conversation series, as part of FIA’s international outreach.

Fogo Island Dialogues

Artist Talks

Fogo Island Film

Special Projects

On-Island Events

Publications

Fogo Island Arts’ monographic publication series accompanies major solo exhibitions and commissions presented at the Fogo Island Gallery. The volumes provide extended consideration of an artist’s work in formats including critical essays, interviews, experimental writing and fiction. Combined with installation views, process documentation and artist contributions, FIA publications serve as a record of the artist’s time on Fogo Island and their creative contributions that can be disseminated internationally.

The series is co-published with Sternberg Press (Berlin), with graphic design by Markus Weisbeck Studio.

Fogo Island Arts produces limited editions in collaboration with selected artists who have participated in a residency. Proceeds from the sales of FIA Editions support Fogo Island Arts and its parent organization Shorefast, a registered Canadian charity.

FIA is grateful to the artists who have generously donated their work in support of FIA initiatives.

Monographs

Jahresring 65

Artist Editions