Cathi Charles Wherry
Individual
Alternate Names
Catherine Charles WherryRoles
Artist, CuratorBiography
Cathi Charles Wherry is Anishinaabekwe from the Mnjikaning First Nation in Ontario on her father’s side and has English and Irish ancestry on her mother’s side. In 1979, she moved to Lekwungen territory and now lives in WSANEC with her husband Andy. Wherry studied in Camosun’s Visual Arts program, and after graduating from there in 1991, studied at the University of Victoria where she earned a BFA (Honours) in Studio Arts in 1994. She had intended to go onto the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe but life had other plans. As an artist, curator and advisor, Cathi brings a wealth of knowledge from decades of deep engagement with Indigenous arts at the local, provincial and national levels. Since 1996, she has served Indigenous communities and especially artists through her work at the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, and from 2010- 2013 she served on the Kakaekwewin Aboriginal Advisory for Canada Council for the Arts. In addition to showing her own work, she has curated exhibitions locally at open space gallery and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.Adapted from Camosun College, 2021