Reona Brass
"As far as Native performance art goes I feel that there is an urgency to claim being alive still, as a native person, knowing that most of the world sees you as dead... I think that's an interesting place to be in, I don't think a lot of people or cultures can claim that particular dilemma."
Reona Brass was raised on her reserve, Peepeekisis First Nation, and in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan. Educated at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (FNUC) and at the Ontario College of Art (OCAD), Brass has produced installation and performance works across Canada, the US and South America since 1993. Her work has been shown in numerous collaborations and group exhibitions including La caída: cuerpo poético/cuerpo político at the National Gallery of Bogota, Columbia (2004) and Ka Kiskih: tamowiwin at the AKA Gallery in Saskatoon (2005). Some of her past performances include, A Gathering For Her at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (2002), Dawn at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2005), and Peril of Truth for FA3 in Montreal (2001). Brass has produced numerous works with Indigenous youth as an integral part of her practice. She will be residence in the Andean community of Otalvalo, Ecuador, followed by a documentary crew for APTN, in 2006. She will mentor and direct Quechua youth in a performance that will be presented as part of one of the most important Ecuadorian celebrations known as the Sun Feast (INTIRAYMI) on summer solstice. Brass now resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
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