It May Concern

Dayna Danger is an emerging Queer, Feminist Metis/Ojibway/Polish artist raised in Winnipeg, MB. Utilizing photography, sculpture, and video, Danger’s practice questions the line between empowerment and objectification by claiming space with her human scale work. Co-opting the visual language of fashion and pornography, she repurposes and challenges perceptions of power, gender, performativity, representation, sexuality, and mixed identities.

As a visual artist, she has explored and probes the world of hunting culture via magazine articles and live hunting excursions. She uses the language of this culture as a tool and metaphor when representing the ways that, women identified, trans and non-binary individuals often lack power over their own sexuality and representation. The work combines the female-identified individual, the rack (animal antlers), and the camera in the same way that a story is passed on from hearing it several times. An example of this is the common term “Big’uns” to refer to an animal’s antlers. Even though antlers come from a male animal, they are fetishized as being female breasts, in particular, “big ones.” This type of language usage plays a key role in dis-empowering our sexuality. This struggle is physically represented by strapped-on antler racks that protrude from our reproductive areas. The antlers, and the tension that they cause, allude to the many factors that women must contend with in order to have healthy relationships, positive self-image, and, of course, sexual relationships. For us, these factors include the first-hand experience and/or the intergenerational effects of residential schooling, sexual abuse, and the unrealistic portrayal of our bodies by the media.

ARTIST STATEMENT AND WORK DESCRIPTION BY DAYNA DANGER, 2015