Dana Claxton

SFU Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair, 2009-2010

DANA CLAXTON is a critically acclaimed international exhibiting artist. She works in film, video, photography, single and multi- channel video installation, and performance art. Her practice investigates indigenous beauty, the body, the socio-political and the spiritual. She mentors indigenous youth, emerging artist and filmmakers. Her work has been shown internationally at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis, MN), Sundance Film Festival, Salt Lake City (UT), Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis (IN) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, AU), Cyrstal Bridges (Bentonville, AR), with exhibitions at Nasher Gallery of Art at Duke University (Durham, NC), Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (TN) and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Minneapolis (MN). Her work is held in Canadian public and private collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the MacKenzie Art Gallery, and the Audain Museum. She has received numerous awards including the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), The Scotia Bank Award in Photography (2020) the VIVA Award, the Eiteljorg Fellowship, the Hnatyshyn Award, and the YWCA Women of Distinction Award. In 2018, she had a solo survey exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

She is Head and an Associate Professor in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory with the University of British Columbia. Her family reserve is Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations located in SW Saskatchewan and she resides in Vancouver Canada.