Curator and writer Michelle Jacques was born in Toronto to parents of Caribbean origin who immigrated to Canada in the 1960s. She was raised on Dish With One Spoon Territory, and began working in art museums shortly after completing her graduate work at York University, where her research focused on thinking about Canadian Modernism through the lenses of feminism and critical race theory.

In 2012, she moved to Lekwungen Territory, to take up the post of Chief Curator at the AGGV. While at the AGGV, she facilitated projects with numerous contemporary artists; co-curated major retrospectives of the work of Canadian artists Anna Banana and Jock Macdonald; created exhibitions that offered critical entry into the work of local legend Emily Carr; and developed installations that used the AGGV’s collection to evoke cross-temporal and cross-cultural conversations.

Prior to moving west, Jacques held various roles in the Contemporary and Canadian departments of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; was the Director of Programming at the Centre for Art Tapes in Halifax; and taught courses in writing, art history and curatorial studies at NSCAD University, University of Toronto Mississauga and OCAD University.

Jacques’ community service has included board membership with Fuse Magazine, Mercer Union, Feminist Art Gallery (all in Toronto), Open Space (Victoria), and currently, Vtape (Toronto). In 2019, Jacques was appointed the inaugural Vice-President, Inclusion and Outreach on the board of the Association of Art Museum Curators. In 2024, she was the recipient of a Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts for Outstanding Contribution.