BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Ryan Smith, PhD, is a curator, writer, and editor mainly of Scottish and Ukrainian descent. He is the Curator & Head of Collections of Glenhyrst Art Gallery in Brantford, Ontario, the literary editor of First American Art Magazine, and an editorial board member for the Yearbook of Moving Image Studies. He grew up in Scarborough and Pickering, Ontario.

Matthew holds a BFA in Visual Art from York University (2007), an MA in Art History from the University of Toronto (2008), and a PhD in Art & Visual Culture from Western University (2012). His dissertation, “Relational Viewing: Art, Trauma, and the Viewer,” used affect and trauma theory to examine the ethics of viewing trauma-related art.

Matthew has taught courses and seminars on art history, curatorial studies, design theory, and media studies at the University of Toronto (Mississauga), Western University, OCAD University, and the Haliburton School of Art (Fleming College). In January 2026, he will become the curatorial advisor for the graduating fourth-year art studio course at Brock University.

His academic research focuses on a breadth of subjects, from the aesthetics of indentureship and aerosol muralism to autobiographical culture and Wabanaki canoes. His studies have been published in several academic journals and books including Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, Journal of Curatorial Studies, The Senses and Society, Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, Canadian Journal of Native Studies, Canadian Film Journal, and Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music, among others.

Matthew has also published critical essays, exhibition reviews, and interviews in publications including Canadian Art, Border Crossings, Espace, C Magazine, PREFIX Photo, ESSE arts + opinions, Blackflash Magazine, Studio Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, and more.

In 2022, Matthew served as editor for Eli Baxter’s Aki-wayn-zih: A Person as Worthy as the Earth, a book that articulates the author’s Anishinaabay worldview and chronicles his experiences as a residential school survivor. The book was awarded the 2022 Governor General’s Award for English-language Nonfiction.

In collaboration with Hoka Skenandore (Institute of American Indian Arts) and Gavin Healey (University of Northern Arizona), Matthew is co-editing the first book on Indigenous graffiti, muralism, and style writing, under contract with the University of Arizona Press.

Matthew lives in London, Ontario, Canada.