Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan are a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

duo who, since 1989, have collaborated on performances, films, videos, publications and public art projects. Both out

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

s, Dempsey and Millan collaborate most commonly on humorous performances addressing lesbian and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

themes in a variety of media, including film, video and live performance poetry. Dempsey and Millan are based out of Winnipeg, and have toured and performed worldwide. Their work has been featured in four retrospectives. Their most well-known works are the music video "We're Talking Vulva" (a segment of movie ''

Five Feminist Minutes ''Five Feminist Minutes'' is a Canadian short film anthology released in 1990 by the National Film Board of Canada. The films were produced independently for the 15th anniversary of Studio D of the National Film Board of Canada in collaboration w ...

''), the performance video "What Does a Lesbian Look Like?", which was in regular rotation on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

in the 1990s and was featured on the

spoken word poetry Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

compilation album ''Word Up''. They are widely known as the Lesbian Rangers of ''Lesbian National Parks and Services.'' Their use of costumes and props in narrative skits enable them to make performance parodies of what is officially sanctioned as normal and legitimate. In the early 2020s they were involved in the design of Thunderhead, which was announced in March 2022 as the winning design proposal for the new

LGBTQ2+ National Monument The LGBTQ2+ National Monument is a planned public monument in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, dedicated to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit communities in Canada. The monument was launched by the LGBT Purge Fund ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

."Thunderhead design chosen for LGBTQ2+ National Monument in Ottawa"

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Ottawa, March 24, 2022.

Selected performances

Astroart Space Corps

''Astroart Space Corps'' was a performance for Nuit Blanche 2014 in Calgary, Alberta. Dempsey and Millan attended as commanders of the PANDORA I space shuttle, taking a break from training to sign commemorative photographs.

Grocery Store

For ''Grocery Store'', Dempsey and Milan, along with jake moore and Zab worked together as The Co-Op Collective to turn Ace Art Gallery in downtown Winnipeg into a functioning grocery store, providing "food and food for thought" to serve the downtown core of the city and bring attention to the lack of essential provisions in the area. The collective ran ads on the radio, ran an advertising circular and a mail-in coupon campaign directed at the mayor to request the creation of real services in the area. The collective sold over $5000 worth of groceries during month of August 2002.

Lesbian National Parks & Services

Lesbian National Parks & Services is an ongoing series of performances, videos and printed matter. Dressed as park rangers, the duo sought to "''queery'' ..that icon of Canadianness" through their site-specific performances satirizing the commodification of the Banff wilderness. Dempsey and Millan handed out maps of Banff, including real and imaginary tourist attractions, such as "Invisible Lesbian Heritage House and Gardens" and the "Invisible Plaque Dedicated to our Founding Foremothers." Dempsey and Millan released "Lesbian National Parks and Services Field Guide to North America: Flora, Fauna & Survival Skills" in 2002. Dempsy and Millan performed a tour of duty in 2008 as a part of the Land Matters series at the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. Arborite Housedress

Tableau Vivant: Eatons Catalogue 1976

Mary Medusa

Selected film and video

* Consideration Liberation Army * A Day in The Life of A Bull Dyke (1995) * What Does A Lesbian Look Like? * Object/Subject of Desire * We're Talking Vulva

Installations

* Miss Gray's Marvellous Truth Machine * Wild Ride * Archaeology and You * Mirror Mirror * One Gay City

Publications

Dempsey, Shawna and Lorri Millan. Anatomy of a Nymphomaniac. Winnipeg: disOrientation Chapbooks, 1997. Bedtime Stodies for the Edge of the World. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2012. Handbook of the Junior Lesbian Ranger. Winnipeg: Finger in the Dyke Productions, 1995. In the LIFE: Portrait of a Modern Sex-Deviant. Winnipeg: Finger in the Dyke Productions, 1995. Lesbian National Parks and Services Field Guide to North America: Flora, Fauna & Survival Skills. Toronto: Pedlar Press, 2002. Mary Medusa: A Testimonial. Winnipeg: Finger in the Dyke Productions, 1992. Winnipeg Tarot Co. Tarot Deck. Winnipeg: Finger in the Dyke Productions, 2010.

Prizes and awards

Dempsey and Millan have received many awards, including the Canadian Museums Association Award for Outstanding Publication and the Manitoba Arts Council Special Prize for Innovation and Excellence. In 2018 they were awarded the Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction, which recognizes long-term achievement at the highest level of excellence of an artist in the province.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial website (depreciated)Lesbian National Parks and Services: A Force of Nature on VimeoConsideration Liberation Army
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Shawna Art duos 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian performance artists Women performance artists Canadian women poets Lesbian artists Canadian lesbian writers Canadian LGBT artists Living people Canadian women artists Canadian LGBT poets 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian women writers Year of birth missing (living people)