Iakoiehwáhtha (Iako) Patton is a writer and academic born and raised in the First Nations community of Kahnawake.

Iako Patton is an art historian in every sense of the word. 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. Iako approaches her scholarship on the Northern Renaissance at the intersection of gender, coloniality, and its artistic representations. She is continuing this work at Oxford, researching the funerary art of French Renaissance queens, under the supervision of Geraldine Johnson.

At the University of Toronto, she was the President of the History of Art Students’ Association. She has been an annual organizer for the Campus (Re)conciliation Conference at Victoria College at the University of Toronto since 2019. In 2023, she was the keynote speaker.

During her studies at UofT, Iako has worked as a research assistant to St. Michael's professor, Reid Locklin, on the resource website Teaching and Learning as Treaty Peoples, writing at the intersections of art history, Christianity, coloniality, and Indigeneity. In 2023, she published her research, ‘Absent Landscapes: Tracing Colonial Lines from Dutch Terrains to Emily Carr’s Northwest Coast’.

In addition to her academic interests, she’s a keen powerlifter with Oxford University Powerlifting Club (OUPLC).

Contact Iakoiehwáhtha for a full CV or any other inquiries.