Anna Banana

Anna Banana, born in 1940, has been described as a conceptualist rather than an image maker. Her artistic activities spiral out, one project giving rise to another, utilizing whatever media the concept requires. Anna Banana is known as a performance artist who creates interactive events. The object of these events is to engage the audiences in the action rather than have them passively observe a performer. Her mail-art activity has been constant. She has been active in the international mail art network since 1971. Her involvement has provided materials and ideas for other work and an ongoing connection to an international community of artists who are, like her, more interested creating and exchanging ideas and small artworks than they are in producing “market products.” Anna Banana met in person the following Vancouver-based artists: Ken Friedman, Michael Morris, Vincent Trasov, Gary Lee Nova, Dana Atchley, Eric Metcalfe, Kate Craig, and Glenn Lewis. In 1973 she moved to San Francisco where she had established contacts with a dozen Bay-Area mail artists. There Anna Banana published her first issue of Vile magazine in 1974.