BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY ........................... Shawna Dempsey Winnipeg/ *Canada 1963 Lorri Millan Winnipeg/ *Canada 1965 Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan are internationally recognized for their performances, films, videos, publications, and public art projects. This acclaimed duo is best known for provocative pieces such as "We're Talking Vulva", "A Day in The Life of A Bull-Dyke", and "Lesbian National Parks and Services". Their performances have toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Japan, and their film and video works have been screened in venues ranging from women's centres in Sri Lanka to the Museum of Modern Art, NYC. Dempsey and Millan's controversial music video, "We're Talking Vulva", represented Canada at the 3rd Istanbul Biennial, and has screened to an estimated audience of a million people, world-wide. Their video, "A Day in The Life of A Bull-Dyke", and the companion mock-Life magazine, "In The Life", have received numerous awards, including the Manitoba Arts Council Prize for Innovation and Excellence, and second place at the 1996 United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival. Dempsey and Millan's body of film and video work has been the subject of four retrospectives. It includes "Good-Citizen: Betty Baker" (Manitoba Motion Pictures Industry Away "Best Short Drama", 1999), "What Does A Lesbian Look Like?" (aired in rotation on Canada's music video station Much Music, 1994-1995), "Homogeneity" (created in residence at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Centre and funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation), and "Object/Subject of Desire" (created at the Western Front and purchased by the Canada Council Art Bank). One of the strategies these collaborators employ is to create work that successfully mimics mainstream forms, so that it can slip into different arenas, subverting and perverting accepted meanings. For example the month of July, 1997, was spent in Banff National Park, patrolling and assessing the environment as Lesbian Rangers with the self-created "Lesbian National Parks and Services" (an on-going project). Other performances that examine lesbian invisibility include "The Lesbian Love Story of The Lone Ranger" & "Tonto, Little Lezzie Borden", and "Growing Up Suites". More theatrical, live works from Dempsey and Millan include "The Dress Series", a costume-based work in which Millan & Dempsey reconstruct the traditional female costume out of unexpected materials. These include "Arborite Housedress" (featuring a dress made of plastic laminate, wood and kitchen hardware); "Glass Madonna" (stained glass, oak); "The Thin Skin of Normal" (plastic wrap, 3" roofing nails); "Object/Subject of Desire" (vellum paper); "Plastic Bride" (clear vinyl and fishing line); and the performance/installation, "Tableau Vivant: Eaton's Catalogue 1976" (bathroom fixtures and running water). Dempsey and Millan have also created costume-inspired performances that twist traditional mythology and iconography, such as "Mary Medusa and Mermaid In Love". Always political, these biting, satirical pieces are performed by Dempsey, and toured by Dempsey and Millan to approximately 10 cities a year. Other artistic activity has included numerous residencies and special projects, such as a bi-lingual performance (English/Japanese) which toured Japan as part of the five-venue "Distant Skinship" project, and two-months in residence at The Headlands Arts Centre, California, through a Canada/Mexico/US tri-national arts initiative. As well as "In The Life", Dempsey and Millan have self-published "The Handbook of The Junior Lesbian Ranger", and have been featured in anthologies from Anansi, Women's Press, Faber and Faber, and Playwright's Union of Canada. Their tourism project, "Winnipeg: One Gay City!" (bus shelter ads and postcards), continues to draw excited visitors to their chosen home, the geographical and queer centre of the continent, Winnipeg, Canada. Shawna and Lorri have been collaborating full-time since 1989. |
