Justine Woods

Justine Woods (she/her) is a garment artist, designer, creative scholar and educator based in Tkaronto (Toronto, Ontario). She is a SSHRC-funded Doctoral Student in the Media and Design Innovation PhD program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formally Ryerson). She also holds a Master of Design from OCAD University and a Bachelor of Design in Fashion Design from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Justine’s research and design practice centres Indigenous fashion technologies and garment-making as practice-based methods of inquiry toward re-stitching alternative worlds that prioritize Indigenous resurgence and liberation. Her work foregrounds all of the relationships that make up her identity as a Penetanguishene Aabitaawikwe; an identity she has inherited from her family and her Aabitaawizininiwag Ancestors. 

Justine is a descendant of the St. Onge and Berger-Beaudoin families. Her Ancestors come from Drummond Island (in what is now known as Michigan) and were relocated in 1828 to Penetanguishene, Ontario where they built diasporic roots with their kin and community that continue to hold strong to this present day. Justine was born and raised in Tiny, Ontario and is a member of what is known as the Georgian Bay Métis Community.

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Justine is a sessional instructor in the Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University and in the Fashion department at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is also the coordinator of Saagajiwe, an interdisciplinary centre for Indigenous research and creation, within The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.