Dana Claxton

Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota, b.1959) is a multidisciplinary artist born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan and based in Vancouver. Drawing on Lakota cultural values, history and language, Claxton questions the multifaceted layers of identity inherent to indigenous ways of being. Issues surrounding indigenous labour and resistance, resource extraction and capital feature prominently in her latest research and work on the Service, Office and Retail Worker’s Union of Canada’s (SORWUC’s) 1978 protest action against the Muckamuck Restaurant.

Claxton’s work has been shown internationally at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Walker Art Centre, Sundance Film Festival, Eiteljorg Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), and held in several major Canadian public collections. Her awards include the Audain Prize (2023), Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), Scotia Bank Photography Award (2020), the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement as an Artist (2019), YWCA Women of Distinction Award (2019), Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for Visual Arts (2016), the Eiteljorg Fellowship (2007) and the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation VIVA Award (2001). Her work was selected for the Sydney Biennial (2010), Biennale de Montréal (2007), Biennale d’art contemporain du Havre, France (2006), Micro Wave, Hong Kong (2005) Art Star Biennale, Ottawa (2005), and Wro 03 Media Arts Biennale Wroclaw Poland (2003).