welcome to our
SATURDAY EVENING POST
January 20th, 2024
Dana Claxton, an esteemed artist of Lakota Sioux descent, has earned significant recognition for her profound and multifaceted artwork. Her creations span a diverse range of media, including film, video, photography, and live performance to express complex and thought-provoking ideas. Central to Claxton's art is a deep engagement with Indigenous cultures. She skillfully navigates the lasting impacts of colonialism, while also illuminating the rich histories and spiritual beliefs of Indigenous peoples.
Many of Claxton’s creations stand out for their distinctive use of image pixelation — a technique she employs as a powerful means to communicate her thoughts, offer critiques, and delve into a variety of subjects.
In her installation of A Forest of Canoes (2018) at The Bentway in Toronto, Claxton considers the iconic role, and symbolism of the canoe in Canadian, Metis, and Indigeouns history. She uses photographs sourced from the Internet, depicting various types of canoes. By adding layers of colour and graphic treatments to these images, she emphasizes their pixelated nature, pointing to their digital origins.
This approach highlights the role of the Internet as a modern method for the transmission of ideas and information, akin to the historical use of waterways.
ABOVE IMAGES:
Canoe #9 (2018). Photo courtesy of Dana Claxton.A Forest of Canoes at The Bentway in Toronto. Project Co-commissioned with The Bentway Conservancy, Curated by Bonnie Rubenstein. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid.
In this installation, the pixelated canoes also serve as reminders of the complex histories of transportation and trade for Indigenous and settler populations.
The juxtaposition of traditional canoes presented as a series of 16-foot vertical murals against the backdrop of a modern urban landscape, on the supporting columns of the Gardiner Expressway, creates a dialogue between past and present, prompting viewers to consider how contemporary digital media shapes our understanding of history and culture.
Pixelation in Claxton's work also serves as a metaphor for the fragmentation and distortion of Indigenous histories and narratives due to colonialism. This visual representation implies that much of Indigenous history has been obscured or distorted.
in her Indian Candy series, Claxton uses pixelation to challenge conventional viewing of archival photographs, emphasizing the incomplete and speculative nature of historical understanding regarding Indigenous peoples.
ABOVE IMAGES:
Tatanka, 45 x 60 inches.
Blue Headdress, 24 x 18 inches. Photo courtesy of Dana Claxton
INDIAN CANDY installed at Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, 2018. Photography by Maegan Hill-Carroll, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Claxton’s use of altered or enlarged archival images disrupts familiar imagery, encouraging viewers to engage more deeply with the underlying issues of identity and history. Claxton addresses stereotypes and misrepresentations of Indigenous people in popular culture and media. In many ways, like her AIM Project and Indian Candy series, "I Want to Know Why" a video work, delves into this history, exploring the displacement and challenges faced by the Lakota people, by opening with a black and white, super-eight shot of the front page of the Globe and Mail showing a warrior on the one-year anniversary of the Oka Crisis. The work is informed by Claxton's familial ties and personal history, particularly her great grandmother's journey with Sitting Bull to Canada. This journey was a result of the aftermath of the Battle of Little Big Horn and the subsequent labelling of the Lakota as "hostile Indians" by the United States. Her great grandmother, part of Sitting Bull's band, sought refuge in Canada, illustrating the complexities of Indigenous history and colonial borders. The timeless façade of black-and-white super-8 footage allows Claxton to blend contemporary and historical elements, underscoring the continued relevance and impact of these historical events.
IMAGE:
I Want to Know Why (1994). Single-channel video with audio, 6:20 minutes. Courtesy of Video Out Distribution/VIVO Media Arts.
In Glama, Claxton takes a pinup image—a form traditionally associated with the sexualization and objectification of women—and transforms it through pixelation. This technique fragments and obscures the woman's visage, making it unseeable and unseeing, and serves as a form of resistance against conventional sexualization. The pixelation compels viewers to engage with the image actively, drawing attention to the act of looking and the role of viewers in the objectification process.
Claxton's exploration of the texture of analogue photography juxtaposed with digital pixelation offers a commentary on the evolution of image-making and the representation of women.
The contrast between the smooth texture of traditional analogue photography and the blocky nature of digital pixels serves as a metaphor for evolving perceptions and representations of femininity and female sexuality.
Her approach in Glama embodies a feminist perspective, actively deconstructing the female body as traditionally depicted in pinup art. Through pixelation, she diminishes the impact of the male gaze and challenges norms of female representation. This act of reclamation is about taking control of how the female form is perceived and understood.
The monumental scale of Glama intensifies the impact of pixelation. Each pixel becomes more pronounced on a larger scale, making the act of fragmentation evident and impactful.
This forces the viewer to confront the image and its underlying themes, creating space for reflection on societal implications of how women are portrayed and perceived.
IMAGE:
Dana Claxton, GLAMA, 2014, Unique edition of 1, 96 x 43.25 inches.
This work is available in the gallery. Please contact us for additional information or to view this work.
Claxton's work has been showcased internationally at prominent institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis, MN), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, AU), among others. Her art is also held in various Canadian public and private collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Fringing the Cube, her solo survey exhibition, was mounted at the Vancouver Art Gallery (2018), and the body of work Headdress premiered at the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto ON (2019). She is set to have a solo exhibition at the BaltimoreMuseum of Art in 2024.
Claxton has also received numerous accolades for her work, including the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts (2023), the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), the Scotiabank Photography Award (2020), the VIVA Award, the Eiteljorg Fellowship, the Hnatyshyn Award, and the YWCA Women of Distinction Award. She is currently Head and a Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations located in Southwest Saskatchewan.
ONE FINAL BEAUTIFUL NOTE
We are so grateful to have had the pleasure of hearing the sonorous and colourful voice of the most incredible soprano of our generation Sondra Radvanovsky this week. Ms. Radvanovsky gave a one day only tribute concert to Maria Callas at the Chan Centre.
“Her vocal brilliance and dramatic presence have often been compared to Callas, is considered one of the premiere Verdi sopranos of our time and a leading interpreter of bel canto and verismo.”
She possesses the voice of divine. She is more than a performer, she exudes life and expresses her soul. Her presence fills the hall with unrelenting radiance. WIth each note, her voice carries her love of art and a passion that is almost tangible. She is an arist who seeks to connect deeply with her audience, and who is on a beautiful journey elevated by sincrereity and earnestness.
Ms. Radvanovsky performed with the accompaniment of the Festival Orchestra Vancouver, conducted by Maestro Tania Miller. Additionally, the performance featured chorus participation from UBC Opera, under the direction of Nancy Hermiston.
Lastly, and most importantly, this concert was made possible by Opera West Society, so we are extending a sincerely thank you Sonya Wall, she does everything so diligently behind the scenes to make it all come true. And of course, our dear Charlotte Wall, who is always so supportive, and always generously shares her love of the arts.
IMAGE:
Paul with Ms. Radvanovsky; Ms. Radvanovsky with Maestro Tania Miller on stage, and with UBC Opera
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