'People have an idea of what kind of art Native people make. What I do doesn't fit that expectation'
Chandra Melting Tallow is often tokenized — but her interdisciplinary art pushes against assumptions
Chandra Melting Tallow is a very interdisciplinary artist of mixed ancestry from the Siksika Nation. Previously working in performance art, her work is now more focused on installations, video, sound and print, all while writing (she wrote a short story collection titled "Dear Horse Boy, I'm Writing to You From Prison") and making music (the experimental project Mourning Coup).
"I think people have an idea of what kind of art Native people make, and they see that what I do doesn't fit that expectation," she says, reflecting on perceptions of Indigenous art. "I guess I don't really fit a lot of those. I know I don't visually, but I know it's a part of me and it will always be a part of me, because it's deeply embedded."
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Melting Tallow says she is confronted by tokenization in her life. "That's the thing about white supremacy — you never get to be a person."
"Whether it's that you're being treated terribly or you're being romanticized and tokenized and treated like a magical creature, it's just...you're never a human. That's what it comes down to, just getting to be a person, just getting to live your life."
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Art Minute is a CBC Arts series taking you inside the minds of Canadian artists to hear what makes them tick and the ideas behind their work.