September 15, 2023, Toronto – The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival announced its 2023 programming today at its press launch event in Toronto. This year’s programming features films from around the globe, spanning 74 Indigenous Nations and 40 Indigenous languages. Festival dates are October 17 to 29.
The festival’s theme is “homecoming” and will ensure feelings of welcoming, warmth, and kindness are interwoven into every space of the festival week in Tkaron:to (Toronto).
In keeping with the theme of homecoming, Vtape is excited to co-present a survey of Vtape artist Dana Claxton’s work, curated by her longtime friend and collaborator Winston Xin. Stay tuned for dates!
Curator Bio
Winston Xin is a Malaysian-born artist and curator living in Vancouver. Xin was involved in the Toronto fanzine movement of the 1980s; along with Hal Kelly & Angela Ciavarella, he published The Trash Compactor zine about disposable cultures. Xin also was a writer for Canadian indie music magazine Exclaim.
He moved to Vancouver in the ’90s and wrote for Xtra West, as well as joining the Out On Screen: Vancouver Queer Film & Video festival, as part of their collective and as a programmer. Xin has also worked as a programmer for Video Inn Studios (ViVo) and is a co-founder of Asian Heritage Month Vancouver. His video shorts and curated programs have been shown nationally and internationally. He currently sits on the board of OnMain.
Xin’s artistic and curatorial practice revolves around the intersection of queerness and race.
Artist Bio
Dana Claxton is a critically acclaimed artist who works with film, video, photography, single- and multi-channel video installations, and performance art. Her practice investigates Indigenous beauty, the body, the socio-political, and the spiritual. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally. She has received the VIVA Award (2001), Eiteljorg Fellowship (2007), Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award (2019), YWCA Women of Distinction Award (2019), Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020), and the Scotiabank Photography Award (2020). She is the winner of Best Experimental Film at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2013).
Fringing the Cube, her solo survey exhibition, was mounted at the Vancouver Art Gallery (2018) and the body of work Headdress premiered at the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art (2019). She is a Professor and Head of the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory with the University of British Columbia. She is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations located in SW Saskatchewan and she resides in Vancouver, Canada.
Dana comments, “I am grateful for all the support my artwork and cultural work has received. I am indebted to the sun and my sundance teachings – mni ki wakan – water is sacred. ”
