About
Lara Kramer (Oji-Cree) of Lara Kramer Danse, was the 2017-18 Trent University Ashley Fellow Artist In Residence. The two-week residency saw Kramer present the immersive installation Phantom, stills & vibrations at Artspace. In addition to the installation, Kramer hosted a series of free workshops, teachings and lectures that were open to all members of the public.
Lara Kramer’s Phantom, stills & vibrations creates an intimacy with the north (Lac Seul, ON) and confronts the brutal and complex relationships between Indigenous peoples and Settler society. For this performance and sound installation, created in collaboration with Stefan Petersen, Kramer draws the spectator into an immersive experience of the former Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, where three generations of her family attended.
For a complete schedule of Lara Kramer’s residency and programming please visit: https://www.trentu.ca/colleges/college-experience/ashley-fellowship/lara-kramer
About Lara Kramer
Lara Kramer is the artistic director and choreographer Lara Kramer (Montreal). Kramer is an Oji-Cree (Ojibwe and Cree) choreographer and multidisciplinary artist whose work is intimately linked to her memory and Aboriginal roots. She received her BFA in Contemporary Dance at Concordia University. Working with strong visuals and narrative, Kramer’s work pushes the strength and fragility of the human spirit. Her work is political and potent, often examining political issues surrounding Canada and First Nations Peoples. Kramer has been recognized as a Human Rights Advocate through the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre. Her work has been presented widely across Canada and abroad to Australia. Kramer’s works have been hailed by critics, these include Fragments (2009), inspired by her mother’s stories of being in residential school, and Native Girl Syndrome (2013), which exposes the marginalization and victimization of Indigenous women and the effects of cultural genocide. In 2017 the installation and performance piece This Time Will be Different, created in collaboration with Émilie Monnet, denounced the status quo of the Canadian government’s discourse regarding First Nations and criticized the “national reconciliation industry”.
About the Ashley Fellowship
The Ashley Fellowship is funded by a bequest from the late Professor C.A. Ashley, long time friend of Trent University and an enthusiastic proponent of the role which the informal contacts of College life can play in the academic pursuits of the University. The Ashley Fellow is therefore a visiting scholar who is a resident guest in one of Trent’s residential Colleges. By the terms approved by Senate in 1976, and in keeping with Professor Ashley’s wishes, “scholar” should be broadly interpreted to include persons not necessarily holding an academic appointment.
Acknowledgements
The 2017-18 Ashley Fellowship is presented in partnership by:
Trent University Department of Political Studies
Trent University Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies
Champlain College
Peter Gzowski College
Catherine Parr Traill College
Artspace Artist Run Centre
Public Energy Performing Arts
Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology and Access to Life
Lara Kramer wishes to acknowledge the financial support of:
Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Canada Council for the Arts