Su Rynard (b.1961, Toronto, Canada)

From early video art to recent feature films, Rynard has worked across a range of approaches: dramatic, experimental, documentary and installation.

Her early video art was exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, “New Canadian Narratives” (1988), and “Video and Myth” (1990). At The National Gallery of Canada she exhibited work in “Rebel Girls” (1990) and “Science Series” (1999_. Her recent dual-screen film “As Soon As Weather Will Permit” debuted in 2014 in Toronto at Vtape Gallery.

Su Rynard’s films have screened in film festivals around the globe and have garnered multiple awards including; the Nature People's Choice Award at New York’s Imagine Science Film Festival (2015) for “As Soon As Weather Will Permit.” Her recent documentary “The Messenger” won Best Conservation Film at the Jackson Hole Film Festival in the USA and the Top Ten Audience Award at Hot Docs in Toronto. In 2006 Su Rynard’s art-house fiction film Kardia was awarded the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Award Feature Film Prize. In 2005, Bug Girl won the Creative Vision Award at the Earth Dance Film Festival and Signal was awarded Best Short Film at the Cabbagetown Film and Video Festival in 1993.

Su Rynard was born on the Downsview Airforce Base where her father was stationed, a world apart from the city of Toronto surrounding her. She received an entrance scholarship to York University, and was awarded the George A. Reid Scholarship and the Melvile P. White Scholarship before graduating with honours from the Ontario College of Art. She was one of ten directors from across Canada invited to take part in the directors residency at the Canadian Film Centre in 1996.

Rynard recently created a five part web-series “Don’t Blink” (2018), and an interactive web experience, “SoloForDuet.ca,” featuring Canadian pianist Eve Egoyan. Her interest in science, ecology and the human relationship with the natural world has informed and inspired her recent work.  An in-depth discussion of her work is featured in Mike Hoolboom’s 2008 book Practical Dreamers: Conversations with Movie Artists, published by Coach House Books.

Artist Code: 199