Glenn Gear (born 1970) is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Gear's animations and installations have been showcased across Canada. He is the first Indigenous artist to be commissioned to create an outdoor installation piece for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Glenn Gear is a queer "urban Inuk" artist with mixed Inuit and settler ancestry from Corner Brook.
Gear is an artist mentor for emerging Inuit youth filmmakers and was the 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence for Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq/Pijariuqsarniq Project. He was also a visiting lecturer and artist-in-residence at Queen's University between November 2021 and September 2022. In 2022, Gear also had a residency at Eastern Edge Gallery in St-John's, NL, Canada. Gear has been a mentor and workshop facilitator in animation for 2SLGBTQQIA+ youth at the Toronto Queer Film Festival.
Gear studied Fine Arts in Photography at Memorial University and completed his Masters in Sculpture and Installations at Concordia University.
Gear's father is Inuk from Adlatok Bay, and his mother is a Newfoundlander of Irish and English ancestry from Wesleyville.
Gear uses archival images in his installations. He also uses film, animation, digital and graphic art, painting, and drawing in his artwork. Gear is a cinematographer and photographer, and includes images of his own textile projects (beadwork and sealskin) in his exhibitions and films.
Through his artwork, Gear aims to change the narrative around the social view that indigenous peoples are frozen in time; instead, he shows how Inuit spirit and strength are intertwined and evolving alongside new technologies. He also showcases traditional Inuit art, such as tattoos, while raising awareness about animal cruelty and exploitation. This can be seen in his installation Ivaluk Ullugiallu-Sinew and Stars, which depicts caribou in Labrador; his installation at the Bonavista Biennale, which shows the over-exploitation of seals; and his Kimutsik Series, which highlights the qimmiijagtauniq (sled dog killings) events of the 1960s and 1970s. Gear's personal connection to nature, and the effects of climate change - while also inviting viewers to contemplate and reflect on one's connection to the land, its ecosystem, and a deep respect for all living beings - can also be seen in his artwork.
Gear has been shortlisted for the 2021 Sobey Art Awards and for the 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award.
Gear's major works include:
Gear's animations have been featured in documentaries such as Ever Deadly (2002) and The Fifth Region (2018), and have been shown at film festivals across Canada and around the world. Festivals such as the Skabmagovat - Indigenous People's Film Festival in Finland; the MÃÂori Film Week in New Zealand; and the ImagineNATIVE Film +Media Arts Festival in Canada.
Solo exhibitions:
Group exhibitions: