Shawna Dempsey on Performance Art, Identity, and Lesbian Park Rangers

What does it mean to commit to performance so fully that it transforms how you move through the world? Winnipeg artist Shawna Dempsey reveals in this week's episode how performance art can be a radical tool for change. Dempsey recalls the inspiration behind some of her and collaborator Lori Millan's iconic works like Lesbian National Parks and Services, where she and Millan became uniformed officials "protecting the lesbian wilds" while educating the public about the inherent queerness of nature. Their performances blended humour, authority, and subversion to create transformative encounters decades before mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities. Learn about a time in the not-so distant-past where donning a ranger uniform emblazoned with the word "lesbian" forced constant coming out in 1990s Canada – a time when queer people had few legal protections and homophobia was abound. Dempsey and Millan are still creating work, like Thunderhead,  Canada's new LGBTQ2+ monument commemorating victims of The Purge. The financial realities of life as a non-commercial artist pose a counterpoint to creative freedom, and Dempsey explores how she walks this tightrope. Despite international recognition and exhibiting at prestigious institutions like MoMA and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Dempsey remembers that sometimes the most they earned in a year was under $19,000 each while touring five months of the year. "Supporting oneself as an artist in Canada is very challenging, especially if you don't make anything saleable," she explains, detailing how they survived through teaching, writing, and "pretty much anything for $50."As co-executive director of Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA), Dempsey confronts the persistent inequality in visual arts, where women artists in Canada still earn only 70 cents for every dollar male artists make.  Aspiring artists will find wisdom in Dempsey's journey – from playing pretend as the famous artist "Miss Shawna from New York" as a child to creating groundbreaking feminist work that's changed lives. Her advice to artists? "Do it. What a wonderful way to live, because you get to go into the studio and think: what do I want to say today?"  Connect with the Artalogue: Madison Beale, HostBe a guest on The Artalogue Podcast

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