Brendan Fernandes

Brendan Fernandes (born 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist currently serving as an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University's School of Communication in Evanston, Illinois. As a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts, Fernandes creates hybrid forms that blend ballet, queer dance parties, and political protest through collaborative practices that foster solidarity.

Fernandes' research focuses on cultural displacement, migration, labor, and queer subjectivity through installation, video, sculpture, and dance. His work confronts the complexities of transitional and transnational identities, incorporating elements of cultural performance into contemporary art based on his unique background as a Queer, Kenyan Indian Canadian. His projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement, always seeking to create new spaces and forms of agency.

His recent artistic output shows a consistent engagement with dance as both cultural practice and political intervention, particularly examining how movement creates community and resistance. Fernandes has developed a distinctive approach that combines digital media, performance, and public space interventions to explore themes of cultural identity, institutional critique, and social justice.

• Robert Rauschenberg Fellowship recipient
• Shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award (2010)
• Canada Council for the Arts New Chapters grant recipient (2017)
• Artadia Award winner (2019)
• Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant recipient (2019)
• Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship recipient (2020)
• Walder Foundation: Platform Award (2024)
• Arts Alliance Illinois - Creative Voice Award (2025)

Fernandes maintains an active practice that bridges academic and artistic spheres, with numerous residencies and commissions including his recent Build Up the House II for Times Square's Midnight Moment. His work has been featured in major institutions including the 2019 Whitney Biennial, the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, and the National Gallery of Canada. He is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago.