About

hello. my name is TRICIA ENNS. i currently call Tiohtià:ke/Montreal (Quebec, Canada) my home base, although i tend to be a little bit nomadic (when life allows). i grew up in Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). i use play a lot in my practice as an artist and designer. i am curious about how we understand where we are and the stories that are held in the things (both outside and inside ourselves) that we overlook, ignore, turn away from, or discard. as a cis-fem-person with a queer body (and heart) and living with chronic pain i have, more recently, been exploring questions of connection, care, and (be)longing.

my practice often uses creative cartography, debris, video, deep listening, electronics, sound art, handmade paper, other textiles, walking, scores, and zines: basically, you can not keep me in a box. it often centers a participatory approach to complexify what and how we know.

this is how i describe me now (april 7th, 2025) but tomorrow it may change, as things often do. we are always shifting, flowing, evolving, and drifting.

less poetic and more bragg-ey:

Resume: download my cv of everything (last updated: April 2025)

Portfolio: download this portfolio (made in: March 2025) or check out the projects listed on the main page, or email me for another portfolio.

i received my degree in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2010. from there i went on to work as an engineer for several years while also exploring creative threads. as an engineer i was always curious about the intersection between the built urban spaces we create and our values and habits as humans. i became obsesses with play and the lack of it in our built environments. after living in Brighton (UK) for two years (2015-2017), i decided to go back to school for something more creative. in 2019 i began a masters in design at Concordia University, and defended my thesis in April 2023.

in 2020 i met a group of folks online that were as obsessed with play and public space as i was and we created [per]mission to Play, an international collective that uses play to interject and question our everyday choreographies within public spaces. we have worked together to put on walks and other activities in Bath (2022), Cardiff (2024), Canterbury (2024), and Edinburgh (2025 – coming up). receiving support from 4 Nations International Fund, Bath Fringe Arts, Chapters Art Centre, Concordia University, and Art Walk Porty.

other collaborations besides [per]mission to Play: i have worked alongside Euros Rowlands (Wales), supported by Elysium Gallery, to create a collaborative video, created from fortage exchange over WhatsApp, Through / Flow | Llif / Trwy, which was shown as part of the improv Festival in 2022. in 2024, with Sid Drmay (Ontario, Canada), the Professional Puddle Pals was formed, an artistic duo keenly curious about the ecological and playful potential of puddles. in 2024 i also began an ongoing collaboration with Sarah Byrd (NYC), currently our collaboration is to strive to do less. in 2025 i have been collaborating with a dispersive group of artists to create the Goblin Market, an iterative and repeating happening that uses obsurdly poetic interactions to detangle money from value while asking, as artists, to be paid. this project has received support from ukai and canada arts council.

as an independent artist (although are any of us really, ever, independent?) i recently (2025) finished a two month residency with Ada X, feminist artist run center in Montreal. the project that emerged out of the residency is Walked Traces: Living With (___). this project has only just begun and i am excited by its potential to playfully and perhaps chaotically, explore care.

in fall 2024 i presented work during the artch festival, a week long event highlighting emerging contemporary artists of Montreal. i have facilitated over 20 debris mapping workshops (2022 – 2025), a practice that combines walking, debris, paper making, and participatory approches, in Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, Bath, Canterbury, Brighton, Kitchener, and NYC. i attended the Design Inquiry residency on Vinalhaven, Maine, two years in a row (2023, 2024) which birthed Walking to the Dock, a contemplative and ritualistic piece that was included in the 2025 Travel Edition of the Journal On Site Review. i am sure to be forgetting something, but my eyes are tired, and would rather just chat with you on the phone. send me an email or call me.