Iako Patton

Biography

Iakoiehwahtha Patton is an art historian in every sense of the word. She goes by Iako for short—pronounced like the villain from Othello. She is completing her undergrad in Art History, Anthropology, and Renaissance Studies at Victoria University in the University of Toronto. As a member of the Kanien'kehá:ka First Nations community, Iako’s identity as an Indigenous woman has shaped the perspective from which she studies. With a love for Netherlandish art, Iako approaches her scholarship on the Northern Renaissance at the intersection of gender, colonialism, and its artistic representations. She is the President of the History of Art Students’ Association, a member of multiple Indigenous advisory committees, and has written extensively (and published!) on land, indigeneity, and Christianity as a research assistant. Iako plans to continue her studies in Art History at Oxford, focusing on the imaging of North American Indigenous peoples in the Netherlandish art canon. In essence, she regards her art historical work as her duty to unveil the deep inequalities of colonial and gender relations embedded within art. When Iako’s not challenging academia, she enjoys deadlifting and reading The Hobbit for the millionth time.