Canada
www.daynarama.com
Dayna McLeod is a practicing performance and video artist working in Montréal, Canada. In 2014, she was the recipient of Le Prix Powerhouse, an award presented by La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse that celebrates mid-career women artists who have significantly contributed to the cultural life of Montréal with determination and without compromise.
Within her practice, Dayna has staged over three dozen independent performance art productions and cabaret works, have twenty-five single channel videos in distribution, have designed video sets for theatre companies and dance productions, collaborated with choreographers, and consulted on artist projects.
Dayna is PhD candidate at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture at Concordia University pursuing an interdisciplinary degree in Humanities that combines studies in performance art, feminism, queer theory, age, and research-creation practices. Dayna’s dissertation research examines how over-40 feminist performance artists use the body (their own or bodies-for-hire) within their practices and work in relationship to mainstream mass culture. As part of this research, McLeod embarked on a one-year durational performance piece that investigated and lived the stereotypes of a ‘cougar,’ a woman over-40 who aggressively demonstrates her sexuality, by wearing nothing but animal print clothing, 24/7 (archived at: www.CougarThis.com).
© Dayna McLeod, Intimate Karaoke, Live at Uterine Concert Hall, 2018. Photo Henry Chan.