Feb 17
Talk by Artist-in-Residence Rosy Simas
Rosy Simas is a transdisciplinary artist claimed by the Heron Clan of the Seneca Nation. She is carried through her life and work by the many generations of family who were and are Seneca, Stockbridge-Munsee, Oneida, Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Neutral, and of European descent. This extensive knowledge of her family and heritage is the underpinning of her relationship to culture and history — stored in her body — which is expressed through her work — of moving people, moving image, and moving objects that she makes for stage and installation.
Simas unites cultural concepts and images with scientific and philosophical theories to create work that weaves themes of personal and collective identity with family, matriarchy, sovereignty, equality, and healing. Her 2021–22 Carleton residency includes the creation of new work for the Semaphore Repertory Dance Co., teaching, independent research, and this public talk. The talk will focus on Simas’s work as a contemporary Native artist and independent scholar, and her indigenous process and embodied decolonizing practices.