Dana Claxton, Pony Girl
Dana Claxton
1959-
Hunkpapa Lakota
Date
2008
Medium Specific
color digital print
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm)
Accession Number
2009.20.10.31
Credit
Gift of the Artist
Memo / Artist Statement
They will appear – may you behold them!
They will appear – may you behold them!
A horse nation will appear.
(from a Horse Dance Song)
“In homage to Black Elk’s vision of the Horse Dance - this work begins! The horse dance brought great sacred power to the people and we continue the Horse Dance to this day. Both Sioux and Cree culture dance with the horse and follow Black Elks’ vision. In The Mustang Suite, I have borrowed from the idea that the horse is power and freedom. In all five images in the suite, all the people are wearing red. Red represents the sacred red, as a Lakota, we wrap our cherished items in red cloth, make tobacco ties for Sundance offerings and make red prayer flags. Red also represents the Red Nation, Red Power and Red Resistance. As with most of my work, there are several entry points into the narrative of the works.
They are dancing.
They are coming to behold you.
The horse nation of the west is dancing.
They are coming to behold!
I attempted to collapse the traditional and the contemporary to indicate that aboriginal people have the best of both worlds. We don’t have to choose to live in one or the other, we can combine both.
Momma – decides its time to let history go. Although, history has been slightly humiliated, history trots off, never to be a burden again. Momma is influenced by traditional woman’s dancing, medicine woman, BDSM and burlesque culture.
This new suite is about presence. An aboriginal presence in popular culture, an aboriginal presence in history and an aboriginal presence into the future.”
They will appear – may you behold them!
A horse nation will appear.
(from a Horse Dance Song)
“In homage to Black Elk’s vision of the Horse Dance - this work begins! The horse dance brought great sacred power to the people and we continue the Horse Dance to this day. Both Sioux and Cree culture dance with the horse and follow Black Elks’ vision. In The Mustang Suite, I have borrowed from the idea that the horse is power and freedom. In all five images in the suite, all the people are wearing red. Red represents the sacred red, as a Lakota, we wrap our cherished items in red cloth, make tobacco ties for Sundance offerings and make red prayer flags. Red also represents the Red Nation, Red Power and Red Resistance. As with most of my work, there are several entry points into the narrative of the works.
They are dancing.
They are coming to behold you.
The horse nation of the west is dancing.
They are coming to behold!
I attempted to collapse the traditional and the contemporary to indicate that aboriginal people have the best of both worlds. We don’t have to choose to live in one or the other, we can combine both.
Momma – decides its time to let history go. Although, history has been slightly humiliated, history trots off, never to be a burden again. Momma is influenced by traditional woman’s dancing, medicine woman, BDSM and burlesque culture.
This new suite is about presence. An aboriginal presence in popular culture, an aboriginal presence in history and an aboriginal presence into the future.”
Biography
Dana Claxton works in film, video, photography, single- and multi-channel video installation, and performance art. Her practice investigates beauty, the body, the socio-political, and the spiritual. Her work has been shown internationally at the Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Centre, Sundance Film Festival, Eiteljorg Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and held in public collections including the Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Art Bank of Canada, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. She has received numerous awards including the VIVA Award and the Eiteljorg Fellowship.
Her work was selected for a Vancouver Art Gallery career survery (2018), the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010), Biennale de Montréal (2007), Biennale d’art contemporain du Havre, France (2006), Micro Wave, Hong Kong (2005) Art Star Biennale, Ottawa (2005), and Wro 03 Media Arts Biennale Wroclaw Poland (2003). She has created commissioned works for the University of Lethbridge Gallery, Alternator Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Urban Shaman, Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, and Tribe. She has presented talks at the Getty Institute and the Art College Association and the Opening Week Forum of the Biennale of Sydney.
Claxton was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and her family reserve is Lakota First Nations – Wood Mountain, located in beautiful southwest Saskatchewan. Her paternal Euro-Canadian grandmother taught her how to harvest and preserve food and her maternal Lakota grandmother taught her to seek justice. Dana is the youngest of four siblings, an auntie, niece, cousin, and daughter.
“Dana Claxton’s work is aesthetically innovative, brilliantly written and expertly paced. The thrust of her practice is political, spiritual and social, making it an essential contribution not only to the field of media art, but generally, to a more honest sense of history.” – Jason St. Laurent, 2002
(https://ahva.ubc.ca/persons/dana-claxton/,2020)
Her work was selected for a Vancouver Art Gallery career survery (2018), the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010), Biennale de Montréal (2007), Biennale d’art contemporain du Havre, France (2006), Micro Wave, Hong Kong (2005) Art Star Biennale, Ottawa (2005), and Wro 03 Media Arts Biennale Wroclaw Poland (2003). She has created commissioned works for the University of Lethbridge Gallery, Alternator Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Urban Shaman, Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, and Tribe. She has presented talks at the Getty Institute and the Art College Association and the Opening Week Forum of the Biennale of Sydney.
Claxton was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and her family reserve is Lakota First Nations – Wood Mountain, located in beautiful southwest Saskatchewan. Her paternal Euro-Canadian grandmother taught her how to harvest and preserve food and her maternal Lakota grandmother taught her to seek justice. Dana is the youngest of four siblings, an auntie, niece, cousin, and daughter.
“Dana Claxton’s work is aesthetically innovative, brilliantly written and expertly paced. The thrust of her practice is political, spiritual and social, making it an essential contribution not only to the field of media art, but generally, to a more honest sense of history.” – Jason St. Laurent, 2002
(https://ahva.ubc.ca/persons/dana-claxton/,2020)
Date of Bio