Denise Ryner is Andrea B. Laporte Curator (she/her). In this role she will be a key member of the curatorial team, often working collaboratively with colleagues at ICA and beyond to developresearch-based exhibitions and contribute to ICA’s on-site, online and publication programs.

Prior to joining ICA, Denise was part of the curatorial team for the exhibition, publication and symposium, ‘Ceremony: Burial of an Undead World’ at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Germany. ‘Ceremony’ broadly examined the ideas of Jamaican writer and theorist Sylvia Wynter through the work of international artists, filmmakers and writers. She also served as the Director/Curator of Or Gallery, Vancouver between 2017 and 2022, following in the footsteps of previous director artist and Penn faculty member Ken Lum, where she presented a robust exhibition program alongside international symposia ‘Bodies Borders Fields,’ examining histories of Black artistic production and ‘Unmoored, Adrift, Ashore’ which invited artists and scholars to speculate on sea-level rise as an opportunity to destabilize colonial-era infrastructures.

Denise completed her MA in Art History at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and her BA at the University of Toronto after switching from a profession in freelance Advertising and Graphic Design, which she studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design.