The Canada Council Art Bank loan program supports Canadian artists in their pursuit of artistic excellence and increased visibility in touring exhibitions both at home and abroad. Currently, a work by Dana Claxton from the Art Bank collection is in a touring exhibition in the United States. Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now is on view at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) in New Mexico. The exhibition examines the practices and perspectives of 22 contemporary Indigenous American and Canadian artists including Claxton, a Vancouver-based artist working primarily in film, video and photography.
Claxton’s photographic work, Headdress (2016), explores Indigenous history, culture, beauty, labour and spirituality, especially as they relate to her Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux) heritage.
The exhibition is the first to examine the development of contemporary Indigenous artists from Canada and the United States. Claxton describes the exhibition as “bringing the ancient to the now. It provides insights into the experiences of our many different nations as well as giving the great beauty of our tribal images to the world.” In Headdress, Claxton uses ornate beadwork from her personal collection and those of her “sisters” from other nations. The embellished strings of beads form a richly coloured veil that adorns the face of a model. Displayed in an LED firebox, the image attains a luminous vibrancy that holds the viewer’s gaze. The work provokes a reconsideration of the gaze. “The gaze gets disrupted, the gaze becomes a look,” said Claxton, “But on further pondering, what do we do after we look?”
Dana Claxton, Headdress (2016). This artwork was acquired by the Art Bank in 2016 as part of a special purchase of artwork by Indigenous artists.
It's a question that continues to evolve in Claxton’s investigations of the politics of the headdress germane to its cultural appropriation. The wearing of faux headdresses—or war bonnets as they are also known—became a trendy accessory seen in fashion magazines, worn by models on runways and sold to concert-goers at music festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury. Claxton says she found the trend offensive. “The war bonnet is not a fashion statement. It is given for good deeds and identifies the wearer as having done good deeds for the people,” she said.
Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now is co-curated by Mindy N. Besaw, Candice Hopkins and Manuela Well-Off-Man. It is on view through July 19, 2019, at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The exhibition continues from August 29, 2019, to January 12, 2020, at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina.
The exhibition and accompanying publication was organized by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
About the Author: Anita Barak
Anita Barak is an Ottawa-based writer and art history and curatorial studies student at Carleton University. She once wrote that “Art can save your life” and believes it to be even more relevant today.