Dana Claxton: The Dreaming

The Patient Storm, by Dana Claxton (2006)

Vtape & imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival present:

The Dreaming: Dana Claxton’s video art exhibition curated by Winston Xin

October 11 – 28, 2023
Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
4th floor, 401 Richmond St. W.
Tuesday – Saturday 12-5pm ET

Wednesday, October 18, 2023, starting at 4:00 pm ET, join us for the annual imagineNATIVE Art Crawl!

Vtape is honoured to co-present The Dreaming, a survey of Dana Claxton’s video works, which deal with anti-colonialist tactics and Lakota mysticism, ideologies, and aesthetics, mixed with her personal observations of our contemporary culture. The 2023 winner of the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts, one of Canada’s most prestigious arts awards, Claxton is a multidisciplinary artist, a member of Wood Mountain First Nation, and a resident of Vancouver.

Please join us on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at 4:00 pm ET, for the annual imagineNATIVE Art Crawl. For ticketing information and more details please visit vtape.org/event/the-dreaming-dana-claxton

Dana Claxton is a critically acclaimed artist who works with film, video, photography, single/multi-channel video installation, and performance art. Her practice investigates indigenous beauty, the body, the socio-political, and the spiritual. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally. In 2023, she was awarded the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts. She has also received the VIVA Award (2001), Eiteljorg Fellowship (2007), Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award (2019), YWCA Women of Distinction Award (2019), Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020) and the Scotiabank Photography Award (2020). She won Best Experimental Film at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival (2013).

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 Professor and Head of the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory at the University of British Columbia. She is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation, located in SW Saskatchewan, and she resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Dana comments, “I am grateful for all the support my artwork and cultural work has received. I am indebted to the sun and my sundance teachings – mni ki wakan – water is sacred.”

Winston Xin is a Malaysian-born artist and curator living in Vancouver. Xin was involved in the Toronto fanzine movement of the 1980s: along with Hal Kelly & Angela Ciavarella, the three of them published The Trash Compactor zine about disposable cultures. Xin was also a writer for the Canadian indie music magazine Exclaim.

He moved to Vancouver in the ’90s and wrote for Xtra West, as well as joining the Out On Screen: Vancouver Queer Film & Video festival as part of their collective and as a programmer. Xin has also worked as a programmer for Video In Studios (VIVO) and is a co-founder of Asian Heritage Month Vancouver. His video shorts and curated programs have been shown nationally and internationally. He currently sits on the board of On Main and has been Dana Claxton’s editor for over 25 years.

Xin’s artistic and curatorial practice revolves around the intersection of queerness and race.

While masks are no longer required in most public spaces, we do request that visitors wear masks for our collective safety and wellbeing.

We also ask that all visitors:

Self-assess before coming to the gallery
Postpone your visit if you are not feeling well
Use hand sanitizer upon entering the gallery
Maintain physical distancing within the gallery
Sign in at the desk before entering the gallery
Follow staff recommendations

co-presented with the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

Vtape acknowledges the generous support of all of our funders, including The Canada Council for the Arts, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Ontario Arts Council.

Connect with us on: Facebook | Instagram

logo