“My visual art practice is a response to the impact of the digital age and how it exponentially transforms and infuses Anishinaabeg culture with new technologies and new ways of communicating. My work is known for its signature style of transformation and recontextualization of traditional objects drawn from historic Anishinaabeg material culture, such as textiles. I deliberately push the boundaries of cultural art practices such as beadwork by transforming antiquated electronic e-waste, primarily capacitors, resistors, and light-emitting diodes to create new and complex floral motifs that mirror traditional Anishinaabeg style glass beadwork. Through an up-cycling of e-waste, I carefully yet respectfully negotiate the tenuous line of cultural continuity and strive to maintain a distinct Anishinaabeg aesthetic as an intentional response to the advance of technological colonization of the digital age.”
- B. Ace

Barry Ace is a practicing visual artist living in Ottawa. He is a debendaagzijig (citizen) of M’Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. His practice embraces the impact of the digital age and how it exponentially transforms and infuses Anishinaabeg culture with new technologies and new ways of communicating. His work bridges the precipice between historical and contemporary knowledge, art, and power, while maintaining a distinct Anishinaabeg aesthetic connecting generations. He has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions and is included in important public and private collections in Canada and abroad, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario); Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, Québec); Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Ontario); North American Native Museum (Zurich, Switzerland); Global Affairs Canada (Ottawa, Ontario); TD Bank Art Collection (Toronto, Ontario); Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (Gatineau, Québec); Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, Ontario); and McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, Ontario).