Annie MacDonell is a visual artist working with photography, installation and film. She received a BFA from TMU's School of Image Arts, followed by graduate studies at Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains, in France. Her gallery works have shown across Canada and internationally, and her films (many produced with collaborator Maïder Fortuné) have screened extensively. Recently, she's had solo shows at Gallery 272, in Toronto, Dazibao in Montreal and the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina. She has participated in group shows at The Blackwood Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Toronto, CAG Vancouver and Mackenzie Art Gallery. In 2012 she was short-listed for the AGO AIMIA prize for photography, and she was long listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2012, 2015 and 2016. In 2020, she was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Photography Award. In 2020, she and Maïder Fortuné won the Tiger Award for Best Short Film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, for their film “Communicating Vessels”.
Annie MacDonell lives in Toronto with her family and is an Associate Professor at TMU’s School of Image Arts. She is a founding member of Emilia Amalia, a feminist research and writing group.
Filmography
One Equal Light, 2026, 14’50”, w Maïder Fortuné
OUTHERE (for Lee Lozano), 2021, 32 min, w Maïder Fortuné
Book of Hours, 2019, 9 min
Communicating Vessels, 2020, 30 min, w Maïder Fortuné
The Fortune Teller, 2012, 16 min
Cinema and Visual Pleasure, 2001, 8 min
Selected Solo shows
Shadow Vision, Dazibao, Montreal, 2026
Interior Life, 272 Gallery, Toronto, 2025
The Beyond Within, touring exhibition - Mackenzie Art Gallery, KWAG, RMG Gallery, IKG Gallery, the Audain Gallery, SFU, 2023-25.
Communicating Vessels, Gallery 44, 2018
The Fortune Teller, Parisian Laundry, Montreal, 2018
Holding Still, Holding Together, Art Museum for Nuit Blanche Toronto, 2017
The Levellers, Art Gallery of Mississauga, 2017
Holding Still // Holding Together, Image Centre, Toronto, 2016
The Hand and the Glove, Mulherin New York, 2014
Pictures Become Objects, Objects Become Events, Toronto Reference Library, for CONTACT Photography Festival, 2014
Flatness, Light, Black & White, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2013
The Fortune Teller, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2012
Originality and the Avant Garde, Mercer Union, Toronto, 2012
The Abyss and the Horizon, Art Gallery of Windsor, 2011
Beside the midnight lake, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Arts, Toronto, 2010
The Castle and other works, Khyber ICA, Halifax
The Castle and other works, Gallery TPW, Toronto
Scenes from the Vanity, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Arts, Toronto
1953, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Arts, Toronto
Selected Group Shows
Immaterial Architecture, Art Museum at the University of Toronto
Speculating Art History, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina
The Artist's Studio is her Bedroom, Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver
She is Spitting a Mouthful of Stars, AKA Artist Run Centre, Saskatoon
The Time Travellers, Platform Gallery, Winnipeg
Cut, Western Front Gallery, Vancounver
past present FUTURE, Erin Stump Projects, Toronto
Mémoire de l'Imagination Bibliotheque national de France, Paris, 2015
Except the Mirror, Format Festival, Derby, UK, 2015
A Problem So Big, It Needs Other People SBC Gallery, Montreal, curated by Cheyanne Turions, 2014
One, and Two, and More Than Two, The Power Plant, curated by Micah Lexier, 2013
Dark Stars, MOCA, Cleveland, Ohio, curated by Rose Bouthillier, 2012
Photography is Magic, Daegu Photobiennale, South Korea, curated by Charlotte Cotton, 2012
The Grange Prize, Canada House, London, UK, 2012
The Grange Prize, Art Gallery of Ontario, 2012
Making it Natural, Mulherin + Pollard, New York, 2012
From One Side to Another, ÉSAM, Caen, France, 2011
To What Earth Does this Sweet Cold Belong, The Power Plant, curated by Jon Davies, 2011
Dans la nuit, des images, Grand Palais, Paris, 2009
Arcade, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, 2008
Signals in the Dark, Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, Montreal, 2008
Modestly Spectacular, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art, 2008
Signals in the Dark, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, 2008
Aurora Readiness Centre, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, 2007
Faux Naturel, Foreman Gallery, Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Québec,2007
Faux Naturel, The Warehouse Gallery, Syracuse, New York, 2006
Time Inside the Image, Foreman Gallery, Bishop’s University, 2006
Group show, HPGRP Gallery, New York, 2005
Je Te Veux, The Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, 2005
Blame Canada, Harvey Levine Gallery, Los Angeles, 2005
Happy Day, Opéra de Lille, Lille, France, 2005
Wallpaper, curated by Sophie Hackett, The Gladstone Hotel, 2005
Hottentottententen..., The Vooruit, Gent, Belgium, 2004
Best of Bus, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Arts, Toronto, 2004
Extraits Panorama, L’Espal, Centre d’art du Mans, Le Mans, France, 2003
Akuspuncture Electronic Arts Festival. Taipei, Taiwan, 2003
Panorama, curated by Christophe Kihm. Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing, France, 2002
Artworks 2001, Kitchener, 2001
Talks/Lectures/Performances
Stories are Meaning-making Machines, Toronto International Film Festival, 2015
Stories are Meaning-making Machines, performance with Maïder Fortuné, for Hors Piste at the Centre Pompidou, 2015
The Bird and the Cup, performance with Maïder Fortuné, Toronto Reference Library, for Contact Photography Festival, 2014
Sense and Sensitivity: on Photography and Materiality, panel at Ryerson University, 2014
The Dreamlife of Objects, performance w Maîder Fortuné, Maison Populaire de Montreuil, Paris, as part of "Le Tamis et le Sable"
Image and the Abyss, talk and screening, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, 2012
The Grange Prize Dialogues, Art Gallery Of Ontario, Toronto, 2012
Annie MacDonell and Pierre Leguillon in Conversation, with Sarah Robayo Sheridan, at the AGO, 2012
The Abyss and the Horizon, Art Gallery of Windsor, artist talk, 2011
No Images, Images Festival, Toronto, 2010
Education
2000 - 2002, Diplôme troisieme cycle (MFA), Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains, France
1996 - 2000, BFA, Ryerson University, School of Image Arts, Photography