Dana Claxton is an interdisciplinary artist who works in film, video, 
photography and performance art. Her artwork has been shown 
internationally and her installation work is held in the permanent 
collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Mackenzie Art Gallery and the 
Winnipeg Art Gallery. She is an active member in the arts community and 
has participated in panel discussions, juries and advisory committees. She 
has curated exhibitions in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa. She is 
a Board Member of Imag ­ the Indigenous Media Arts Group ­ a non-profit 
cultural organization dedicated to the production and dissemination of 
aboriginal independent film and video. She teaches part time at Emily Carr 
Institute of Art and Design in the Critical Studies and Visual Arts 
Departments. She has taught First Nations Art Today and Constructed 
Identities. Artist Statement My film and video work investigates 
colonialism and the relationship this system has with aboriginal cultures 
in Canada and the United States. Further, the work seeks to exhibit how 
this system is represented historically and in contemporary mainstream 
society. I seek to deconstruct how images, philosophies, communities and 
cultural iconography of First Nations are located within the mainstream 
and address issues of historic and contemporary exploitation and 
commodification of aboriginal culture. I am interested in structures of 
neo-colonialism and the continued results and reactions to cultural 
imperialism by First Nations, including my own self in the context of 
colonial history and the impact this system had/has on my own family and 
community. As well, my new works attempt to create a dynamic by 
positioning traditional Lakota knowledge within the construct of western 
art making with the intention of developing a site where traditional 
knowledge and contemporary art interface.


artist statement:
Artist Statement (Dana Claxton):
My film and video work investigates colonialism and the relationship this 
system has with aboriginal cultures in Canada and the United States. 
Further, the work seeks to exhibit how this system is represented 
historically and in contemporary mainstream society. I seek to deconstruct 
how images, philosophies, communities and cultural iconography of First 
Nations are located within the mainstream and address issues of historic 
and contemporary exploitation and commodification of aboriginal culture. I 
am interested in structures of neo-colonialism and the continued results 
and reactions to cultural imperialism by First Nations, including my own 
self in the context of colonial history and the impact this system had/has 
on my own family and community. As well, my new works attempt to create a 
dynamic by positioning traditional Lakota knowledge within the construct 
of western art making with the intention of developing a site where 
traditional knowledge and contemporary art interface.