Ablakela

Item is a moving image about Ablakela, a performance work by Dana Claxton, presented in Vancouver October 16, 1999. Music is by Peyote singers Johnny Mike and Verdell Primeaux. Elder and anthropologist Bea Medecine writes on the Lakota view of art and artistic expression in contrast to a Euro-American concept of art. Glenn Alteen’s curatorial essay examines three of Claxton’s performance works and her concerns for environmental issues, ritual, and spirituality, referring to the history of performance and the traditions of First Nations and other cultures. Claxton comments on the Ablakela work and the meaning of the sacred in a segment from a televised series. Produced by the Grunt Gallery.