The Power Plant

In a performance called ‘like a boss,’ artist Skeena Reece honours the late Marlon Brando who expressed his commitment to First Nations peoples when the actor boycotted the 45th Academy Awards ceremony to protest the treatment of Aboriginals by the film industry. In her performance for The Power Plant, Reece embodies both the character of The Godfather and Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist hired to give the news that Brando was refusing his Oscar.

Skeena Reece is a multi-disciplinary Tsimshian/Gitksan and Cree artist whose work includes performance art, spoken word, ‘sacred clowning’, writing, singing, and video art. Reece is based on Vancouver Island, on the west coast of Canada. She has performed at venues including Modern Fuel, Kingston, Ontario (2011), 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010), Nuit Blanche, Toronto (2009), LIVE Biennale, Vancouver (2009), Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver (2008), the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver (2008), and the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. (2008). Reece attended Northwest Community College, Prince Rupert, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, and trained at The Banff Centre and grunt gallery as a curatorial practices intern.

Image: Skeena Reece, Raven: On the Colonial Fleet (detail), 2010. Performance regalia. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Sebastien Krete.

Primary Education Sponsor