Aja Bond
B. 1982, Kelowna, B.C. Canada
Lives in Santa Cruz, CA, US
Selected Exhibitions
2022
Emulsion, Irwin Scholars Exhibition, Faculty Gallery, Santa Cruz
2021
All Day I Dream About Soil, Sesnon Underground, Santa Cruz, solo show
2020
Queer Ecology Hanky Exhibit, White Page, Minneapolis & Irma Freeman Center, Pittsburg
2019
Experimental Engagements, Society for Literature, Science and the Arts conference, UC Irvine. group exhibition
Amici Mortem (friends of death), Pantheacon, San Jose, CA. 4 days of collaborative, intensive programming/social practice/installation in a suite at a Neo-pagan conference.
2017
Dye/Resist, SubRosa, Santa Cruz, CA. Solo exhibition.
2015
Hochparterre, Berlin, Germany. Group exhibition.
The Through Line, Gam Gallery. Group exhibition.
Pains-Taking Comfort-Queen, Un Quiet Bodies, Gallery Gachet. Two-person exhibition w/Chandra Melting-Tallow.
2014
Pillars of (W)hole Time, Turning to Night, Le Petite Versailles, New York, NY. Group exhibition.
Relanding Mugwort, TBD, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, ON. Week-long collaborative performance/ritual for group exhibition w/the STAG Library, Gina Badger, Cheyanne Turions, Eric Emery.
Femme Futures, Video Fag, Toronto, ON. Performance w/Alize Zorlutuna.
2013
No Pipeline No Tankers No Tar Sands and Salmon Hats, Cascadia, Collar Works, Troy, NY. Group exhibition.
Braids, Access Gallery. Two-person exhibition w/Donna Huanca.
2012
Triangle Fort, Illuminares Lantern Festival and Vancouver Children’s Festival. Installation.
2011
HYPERCRAFT studio, Artbank/Hammock. Solo show
COUNTERMAPPING, Queer Art Festival, Gerry Thorne Gallery. Group Exhibition w/Diadem.
2009
Mute Motiv, Goonies. Solo exhibition.
2007
Blanket Fort, Signal and Noise Media Art Festival. Commissioned installation w/Seamrippers.
2005
Screen-print Show, Seamrippers Craft Center. Group exhibition.
Diorama Show, Seamrippers Craft Center. Group exhibition.
2004
Doll Show, Seamrippers Craft Center. Group exhibition.
Performances
2022
Liminal Space Meditation, Beyond the Grave, Indexical/Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA.
2019
Compost Devotional Ritual, Experimental Engagements, Society for Literature, Science and the Arts conference, UC Irvine.
2016
Big Joy Festival, as DJ Tapes.
2013
Big Joy Festival, Remington Gallery, w/Diadem.
2012
2nd Annual CRAFT PRIDE PROCESSION. Community procession w/Textile Group and the FAG
HE(A)R, Vancouver New Music. Commissioned performance w/Brady Marks.
Eye of the Storm, Rio Theatre, w/Diadem.
2011
CRAFT PRIDE PROCESSION. Community procession w/Textile Group
2010
Fuse, Vancouver Art Gallery, w/Her Jazz Noise Collective (HJNC).
Quilt of Mirrors, Signal and Noise Media Arts Festival. Commissioned performance as DJ Tapes w/prOphecy sun.
2009
Copyright/Copyleft, Vancouver New Music Festival, as DJ Tapes.
2008
The After Party, VIVO Media Arts Center, w/HJNC
Guitars! Guitars! Vancouver New Music Festival, w/HJNC.
2007
The Sound I’m Looking For, Charles H. Scott Gallery. w/Diadem.
2004
Open Circuits, Or Gallery, w/In Flux.
Raw and Cooked, Western Front, w/In Flux.
Publications and Presentations
2022
Turn, Turn, Turn: The Multispecies Choreography of Compost, Dance Studies Association Conference, Vancouver B.C.
2021
The Fabric of Time: Exploring the Potential of Nonlinear Prefiguration, Feral Fabric Journal Vol. 2
2020
The Freedom Quilting Bee: Textile Art and Mutual Aid in the Civil Rights South, Feral Fabric Journal Vol. 1
2019
Compost Devotional Ritual and Liminal Space Meditation, You Are Here to Feel. Scores for compilation poster edited by Zoe Kreye
Compost Poesis: Death Magic and the Soil Food Web. Self-published essay.
Giving Shape: Towards Unsettling the Anthropocene. Self-published essay.
The Holy Mother, the Queen of the Witches and the Goddess of Flowers: Encounters with Death through Deity. Self-published essay.
2017
Time is on Our Side, When Language Runs Dry. Compilation zine.
2014
Cultural Appropriation in Spirituality. Co-created zine and intensive workshop.
Residencies
2016
MAC-CRES, Co-op Radio. Residency.
2011
HYPERCRAFT studio, Artbank/Hammock. Residency
Curatorial Projects
2010 – 2015
The STAG (Strathcona Art Gallery) and STAG Library, w/Gabriel Saloman. A gallery, library, residency and community space hosted in the home of two artists with talks, readings, exhibitions, screenings and open hours every Sunday.
2008 – 2009
Women’s Studies, 9-part performance series co-curated w/HJNC, co-produced by VIVO Media Arts Center featuring “mostly women making mostly noise” which led to the formation of over 15 new women-fronted experimental sound projects.
Social Practice and Community Organizing
2018 – 2019
Amici Mortem (friends of death). Interdisciplinary collaborative group working on transforming the theory and cultural practices around death, dying and the dead in the Anthropocene.
2018 – 2020
Teen Earth Magic. Annual, week-long wilderness intensive for teens combining science, critical-settler and intersectional feminist organizing principles and community ritual.
2016 – present
The Fábrica Community Textile and Salvage Workshop. Volunteer-run, by-donation community space, tool share, gallery, library and resource center serving various marginalized groups.
2014 – 2017
The Witches* Union Hall (W*U Hall). Project proposing “magic as a form of labor”. Facilitated dialogue, interventions, workshops, publishing, and a reading/discussion practice group at the intersection of radical politics and magic.
2007 – 2015
WOEVAN (Witches of East Van). Group advocating for “coming out of the broom closet” through regular, elaborate public and private rituals incorporating Queer, Anarcho-feminist and radical enivironmental perspectives and practices.
2007 – 2010
Her Jazz Noise Collective. Weekly open jams for all self-identified women interested in experimenting with sound. Workshops, performances, releases and a 9-part performance series.
2007 – 2018
Free Cascadia Witchcamp. Annual, week-long wilderness intensive combining radical environmentalism, critical-settler and intersectional feminist organizing principles and community ritual.
2003 – 2007
Seamrippers Craft Center. Studio, library, gallery, workshop and community space for artists working with mediums traditionally deemed “craft”.
Aja Bond 