Raven Davis (born 1975) is a multimedia Indigenous artist, curator, activist, and community organizer of the Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Nation in Manitoba. Davis's work centers themes of culture, colonization, sexuality, and gender and racial justice. Davis currently lives in
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...
and works between Halifax and
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
. Davis is also a traditional dancer, singer, and drummer.
Career
In 2010, Davis joined the Friends United initiative as an artist and associate and currently sits on the advisory board.
In 2017, Raven Davis was hired as co-artistic director of Halifax's Queer Acts Theatre Festival.
Awards, honours, and residencies
* Art and Activism Resident, NSCAD University (2016)
* Cape Breton Partnership, Aboriginal Women of Distinction in Business, nomination (2010)
* Cape Breton Industry Award, Sydney Ports Authority (2009)
Curatorial
* ''Nocturne,'' Halifax, Nova Scotia (2018)
* ''
Bonnie Devine
Bonnie Devine is a Serpent River Ojibwa installation artist, performance artist, sculptor, curator, and writer from Serpent River First Nation, who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.Aidan Gillis'','' PETAPAN: First Light Indigenous Arts Symposium, Dieppe, New Brunswick (2016)
Filmography
*"I Still Believe" (2015) Director and Producer.
*"Spooning" (2015) Co-Produced with Elisha Lim.
*"Love Never Felt so Good" (2014) Collaboration with Elisha Lim.
Selected exhibitions
* Friends United Art Exhibit.
Halifax City Hall
Halifax City Hall is the home of municipal government in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Designed by architect Edward Elliot, and constructed for the City of Halifax between 1887 and 1890, it is one of the oldest and largest public buildings in No ...
. (2012)
* This is My Song: Perspectives from Contemporary Native Women. Huntsville. (2012)
* Friends United. Casino Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia. (2013)
* Indiginesse. Aurora Cultural Centre. Aurora, Ontario. (2014)
* Wagmatcook Arts & Culture festival.
Wagmatcook, Nova Scotia
The Municipality of the County of Victoria is a county municipality on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It provides local government to about 7,000 residents of the eponymous historical county except for the Wagmatcook 1 reserve. Th ...
Cini Foundation
The Giorgio Cini Foundation (''Italian: Fondazione Giorgio Cini''), or just Cini Foundation, is a cultural foundation founded 20 April 1951 in memory of Giorgio Cini, an Italian entrepreneur who died in August 1949.
History
The Foundation is loca ...
. Venice. (2015)
*''Duality.'' Kennedy Gallery. North Bay, Ontario. (2017)
*''The De-Celebration of Canada 150.'' Khyber Center for the Arts. Halifax, Nova Scotia. (2017)
*''níchiwamiskwém , nimidet , ma soeur , my sister.'' The Biennale of Contemporary Aboriginal Art BACA) Art Mur, Montreal, Quebec. (2018)
*In Dialogue.
Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba
The Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (AGSM) is a contemporary art museum in Brandon, Manitoba.
Founded in 1907 as the Brandon Art Club, the AGSM is the oldest centre for visual art in Manitoba and one of the first in Canada.
As a not-for-p ...
. Brandon, Manitoba. (2018)
Personal
Raven Davis is a parent of three sons. Having a mother who is also an Anishinaabe artist has influenced Davis in their life and career. Davis was born and raised in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and attended
Ryerson University
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...
and
George Brown College
George Brown College is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and ...
.
The artist is
two-spirited
Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...
and uses
gender-neutral pronouns
A third-person pronoun is a pronoun that refers to an entity other than the speaker or listener. Some languages with gender-specific pronouns have them as part of a grammatical gender system, a system of agreement where most or all nouns have a va ...
. Davis speaks at schools, art venues, and community events, raising awareness around issues of gender, sexuality, and race.IT ALL STARTS WITH AWARENESS -LGBTQ DAY IN ESKASONI. http://kinu.ca/news