Tanya Lukin Linklater

Born 1976 | Kodiak Island
Lives and works North Bay

An artist of descent from the Native Villages of Afognak and Port Lions in the Kodiak archipelago, Tanya Lukin Linklater’s performances, videos, and installations investigate the histories that affect the lived experiences, structure of belonging, and knowledge transmission of Indigenous people. For the 14th Gwangju Biennale, Lukin Linklater presents an installation of kohkom scarves, which are worn by Indigenous women of all generations in North America, accompanied by a documentation of choreographed movements by the artist’s collaborator Ivanie Aubin-Malo. While the installation of kohkom scarves speaks to the connections forged by a cultural artefact across temporally distant individuals, the performance is based on a set of instructions that Lukin Linklater provided for Aubin-Malo as a point of departure for her performance. Placed next to a window that looks out into the park that surrounds the Biennale Hall, the installation also touches upon the ways in which meteorological factors such as wind and light inform Indigenous thinking.

Tanya Lukin Linklater, Feel winter. When tea warms breath—throat 2023. Video installation with kohkom scarves and stones. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Catriona Jeffries, Commissioned by the 14th Gwangju Biennale. Installation view, 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023). Image courtesy Gwangju Biennale Foundation. Photo: glimworkers