Dana Claxton

Claxton's family are descendants of Sitting Bull's followers who escaped persecution by the U.S. Army in 1876 after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, heading to Canada.

Growing up in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she is the youngest of four siblings.

Her family's reserve, Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation, is located in Southwest Saskatchewan.

Claxton co-founded the Indigenous Media Arts Group and has taught at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

Dana Claxton (born 1959) is a Hunkpapa Lakota filmmaker, photographer, and performance artist.

Her work looks at stereotypes, historical context, and gender studies of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, specifically those of the First Nations.

Claxton's video creations started in the early 1990s.

Experimenting with video in works such as Grant Her Restitution (1991) and I Want To Know Why (1994) where she explores the effects of colonialism on Canadian women.

Evolving her artistic goals further, starting in 1996 with The Red Paper, Claxton proceeded to attempt to "bring spirit into the gallery space".

Through the blending of the sacred and secular she incorporates traditional objects and symbols of Lakota spirituality in contemporary spaces and environs.

Her numerous video projects have been shown in more than 15 countries.

In 2003 she served as the Global Television Chair at the University of Regina where she taught at the school of journalism.

In the series On to the Red Road (2006), Claxton brings together five photographs to take a look on femininity and clothing.

Through the series Claxton is showing a model wearing traditional regalia slowly removing articles of clothing to reveal a sexy outfit, bringing questions of sexuality and gender bias to light.

In 2007, she was awarded an Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art.

She received a Masters Degree in Liberal Studies in 2007 from Simon Fraser University where she was made Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair in 2009-2010.

''I'm influenced by my own experience as a Lakota woman, as a Canadian, a mixed blood Canadian, and then my own relationship to the natural and supernatural world.

So taking that whole bundle of experiences, it all goes in to the artwork, I think that's where the multi-layering comes in because I've had a very multi-layered life.

And it's all those experiences that go in to the work.''

– Dana Claxton, 2007

Claxton combines her own world-view with Indigenous issues from the past and present.

She investigates concerns about colonization, body imagery, beauty, politics, spirituality and the iconography of Native peoples and how it is placed in popular culture.

Through video, photography and conceptual projects Claxton strives to blend traditional experiences and environments within contemporary spaces

Paint Up (2009) features portraits of Joseph Paul, a ceremonial Salish Black Face dancer and Pow-wow dancer living on the Musqueam Indian Reserve.

Up close, large scale color portraits of Paul with his face painted, these works have been described as "imposing images, striking and cool, throw down a challenge to the sterile, nonspiritual, materialistic view of contemporary life."

Newer works such as the Mustang Suite take a vivid look at the meanings and stereotypes behind Indianess, specifically Black Elk's vision of the Horse Dance.

A group of large C-prints, the mustang represents freedom and mobility, and is not necessarily displayed as a horse.

Daddy's Gotta New Ride shows an Indigenous man in a black suit with face paint and braided hair, standing next to a red Ford Mustang.

Baby Girls Gotta Mustang features twin girls in red dresses and mukluks on bicycles.

Another in the series, Mama Has a Pony Girl…Named History and Sets Her Free, shows a medicine woman with her arms outstretched and a Caucasian woman danced like a burlesque pony girl.

The image is meant to support Aboriginal women who wish to release themselves from the binds of history, specifically one filled with sexualized stereotypes.

Other images in the series are large scale reflections on the Indigenous community in a contemporary world.

Claxton has also focused on the American Indian Movement which features blown up black-and-white photos of declassified government documents about the at times controversial civil rights organization.

In 2010 she served as Simon Fraser University's Ruth Wynn Woodward Chair in Women's Studies.

She has worked closely with numerous Canadian and First Nations organizations, such as the National Film Board of Canada, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, among others.

She served as director and producer for 52 episodes of the Canadian program Wakanheja, a First Nations oriented children's program and 26 episodes of ArtZone, an art show for teenagers.

She also served as producer and a storyteller for First Stories-VTV, a program about the Aboriginal population of Vancouver.

When not creating art, Claxton serves on panel discussions, as an art juror, curator, as well as a mentor for young and emerging artists.

Claxton lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and is a faculty member at the University of British Columbia.

She previously studied acting at HB Studio in New York City.