Prime Minister Mark Carney visiting us at Harbourfront Centre
Photo credit
Becca Gregory (She/Her)
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Photo Credit MS Anne-Marie Brisson, Rideau Hall © OSGG, 2024
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Artist Statement
Tracey-Mae Chambers is a Métis installation artist whose practice centres on collective grief, care, decolonization, and remembrance within public and institutional space. Working primarily with fibre, repetition, and site-responsive installation, Chambers creates immersive environments that invite reflection, dialogue, and shared responsibility.
Her work is grounded in labour-intensive processes that emphasize time, touch, and presence. Using materials such as red string and textile structures, Chambers responds directly to the histories embedded within specific sites — museums, heritage locations, civic buildings, and public spaces. These installations function as acts of witnessing, holding space for loss while resisting abstraction and erasure.
Two major bodies of work anchor her recent practice. Hope and Healing Canada (2021–ongoing) is a national series of site-responsive installations presented at over 80 venues across Canada, exploring reconciliation, decolonization, and public memory. They Are Loved: An Epidemic of Grief (2024–ongoing) is a commemorative installation project addressing the opioid crisis, developed through dialogue with affected communities and centred on dignity, visibility, and care.
Biography
Tracey-Mae Chambers is a Métis visual artist based in Toronto, Ontario and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. She is self-taught in encaustic painting, sculpture, and textile-based practices, and is widely recognized for her large-scale fibre installations in public and institutional contexts.
Her work has been presented nationally at institutions including the Aga Khan Museum, Rideau Hall, Parliament Hill, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Museum of Vancouver, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Harbourfront Centre, and numerous public galleries and civic spaces. She is currently Artist in Residence at Harbourfront Centre.
Chambers is the recipient of multiple grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council. In 2024, she was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal, presented by Governor General Mary Simon at Rideau Hall, and in 2025 she received the Shanks Memorial Award from Craft Ontario.
Her work has been featured in national and regional media, including CBC Arts, CBC News, and Global News.