Elizabeth Chitty (born April 6, 1953) is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist known for performances, video, and installations as well as her writing.

Biography

Elizabeth Chitty was born and raised in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Chitty has lived primarily in the

Niagara Peninsula The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the ...

, except the period of time early in her career when she lived and worked in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Career

In the 1970s and the 1980s her single-channel videos were widely exhibited, including venues such as the 11e Biennale de Paris in 1980 and the 1988 opening at the National Gallery of Canada. Chitty's passion for reconciliation between

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

' and settlers, has been reflected in her art practice since the 1990s. In 2016 Chitty stated the following in reference to her art practice for the 11th 7a11d International Festival of Performance Art in Toronto, ''"I explore what it means to be in a body, a place, with others. Interrelations of temporal-kinasthetic-visual-aural-textual interests flow through my body of work."'' Chitty creates further definition in her work through ideas, emotions and sensations. An early performance, ''Lap'', 1976 was performed in artist-run centres in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montréal. Her performance, ''History, Colour TV & You'', 1980-81 was performed in fourteen venues in Canada, U.S. and France. In November 2017 ''The Grass is Still Green'' won the 'Exhibit of the Year' at the

Ontario Association of Art Galleries The Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries (GOG), formerly Ontario Association of Art Galleries / Association Ontarienne des Galeries d’Art (OAAG/AOGA), was established in 1968 to encourage development of public art galleries, art museums, community ...

annual awards gala. The jury said: "This exhibition expands the gallery into the surrounding lands. The artist is a veteran performance artist, cultural worker and defender of artist’s rights on the Canadian scene who breaks ground and enables the land to speak its local history." The final work in her body of work based on water in the Niagara region was ''Power'', a 3 video and 4 audio channel installation exhibited a
Riverbrink Art Museum
in Queenston Ontario in 2021.

Collections

In 1984 ''T.V.Love'' (1982) was purchased by the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

. ''Demo Model'' (1978), ''Telling Tales'' (1979), ''Desire Control'' (1981) and ''Dogmachine'' (1981) video collection were deposited by Art Metropole, Toronto to the National Gallery of Canada in 1997.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitty, Elizabeth 1953 births Living people Artists from St. Catharines Canadian installation artists Canadian video artists Canadian women video artists 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists

Biography

Career

Collections

References

Further reading

External links