Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist practicing in amiskwaciwâskahikan on Treaty 6 Territory. She grew up West of the city near the hamlet of Calahoo where she lived with her relatives on scrip land. Her family lines are Cree and Métis descending from Michel First Nation, as well as Dutch and mixed European.
Kiona works in painting, printmaking, drawing and installation, recollecting personal stories of grief and tenderness. Her practice uses a non-linear telling of her memories through narrative work as a form of diaristic archiving. It draws from feelings of loss and enfranchisement, but also from deep belly laughter, mundane gestures, and a gentle fondness for where the histories between herself and her family overlap and disperse.
Kiona has had solo exhibitions at The New Gallery, Calgary, AB; Harcourt House, Edmonton, AB; and Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre, Edmonton, AB; Khyber Art Centre, Halifax, NS; Neutral Ground, Regina, SK; and Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. She co-curated these bodies heal slowly and in our own time (2023-24) and the soil between plants (2022) with Making Space, and What’s Held through TREX and the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (2022).
Kiona was a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor Emerging Artist Award (2022) and The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal (2023). Her debut graphic novel with Conundrum Press, We Were Younger Once (2022), was a nominee for the The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent, and she is working on her second graphic novel to be released by Emanata Press in 2027.
Working alongside other artists in initiatives of community care, Kiona co-organizes Making Space in partnership with Sanaa Humayun. She likes visiting her moshom on the farm, and gossiping with her mom, relatives, and friends on the prairies.


Drawing by Kiona and her moshom, Ernie Callihoo (2007)
EDUCATION
2020- Bachelor of Fine Art, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2017- Fine Art Diploma, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025- your hands between brambles, Art Gallery of St. Albert, St. Albert, AB
2023/24- Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet, Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AB
2023- And in spring we’ll wait for lilacs, The New Gallery, Calgary, AB
2022- You’ll Always Know, Harcourt House, Edmonton, AB
2021- These Are the Things, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB
2020- Kiona Ligtvoet, Parallel Space, Edmonton, AB
TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2025- Come Visit: Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Seth Arcand, Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, ON
2024- Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Julia Rose Sutherland, Union Gallery, Kingston, ON
2023- Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Maureen Callihoo Ligtvoet, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2022- I’m remembering how tracks are made: Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet & Megan Feheley, Sakewewak, Neutral Ground, Regina, SK
2021- Secrets Are Reparations for Microaggressions: Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet and Sanaa Humayun, Khyber Art Centre, Halifax, NS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024- gathering at the water's edge, St. Michael’s Printshop, Corner Brook, NL
2024- Sharp Teeth, Odd Gallery, Dawson City, YT
2024- Fields, Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2023- Sharp Teeth, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
2023- They Said So, curated by Kyla Pascal, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB
2023- these bodies heal slowly and in our own time, McMullen Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2022/25- What’s Held, Northern Alberta: TREX Galleries, initiated by Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie, AB
2022- Transitional Impressions, FAB Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
2022- Transitional Impressions, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB
2021/22- the soil between plants, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB
2021- sahkitok mistahi, Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre, Edmonton, AB
2019- ᐋᒋᒧᐃᐧᐣ Âcimowin, Coral Plaza, Edmonton, AB
CURATORIAL
2024- room to grow taller, ace art inc., Winnipeg, MB
2023- these bodies heal slowly and in our own time, McMullen Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2022/25- What’s Held, Northern Alberta: TREX Galleries, initiated by Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie, AB
2021/22- the soil between plants, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB
BOOKS & ZINES
2027- rosehips, graphic novel with Emanata Press, Conundrum Press
2022- We Were Younger Once, debut graphic novel, Conundrum Press
2022- Considerations on Mapping, zine, commissioned by BlackFlash Expanded
AWARDS
2024- Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund Award
2023- The Doug Wright Award for emerging talent, Nominee, for We Were Younger Once
2023- Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards
2022- Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, Visual Arts
RESIDENCIES/COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
2023- Main Frame Digital Residency, The New Gallery, Calgary, AB
2022- Art From Here, Latitude 53, Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre, SNAP, and Mitchell Art Gallery (online)
2022- Still In Chinatown, Still on Indigenous Land Community Silkscreen Event, Project Lead w/ aiya Collective, Edmonton, AB
2022- Visiting Artist Residency, St. Michael’s Printshop, St. Johns, NL
2021/22- CreateSpace Public Forum, Mentor, STEPS Public Art, Toronto, ON
2021- In Community Residency, SNAP Printshop and Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2020- Mentorship Exchange, w/ Lan Florence Yee, Mitchell Art Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2020- Writing From Here, Latitude 53 and Mitchell Art Gallery, Edmonton, AB
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
2023- Tse, Shawn, “A Garden in Chinatown on Indigenous Land,” C Magazine, Issue 153, Winter
2022- “In Conversation with Elisabeth Belliveau,” Conundrum Catazine, Conundrum Press, Winter
2021- Kiona Ligtvoet: These Are the Things, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB
2021- Humayan, Sanaa, “Art, Friendship, and the Whiteness of It All,” Emerging Art Writers Program (EAWP), AUArts and C Magazine
2021- Klak, Megan, “These Are the Things: Kiona Ligtvoet, Tenderness, Care, and a Complicated Sadness,” Galleries West, May 3, 2021
COLLECTIONS
University of Alberta Hospital Art Collection
Alberta Foundation for the Arts