Shawna Dempsey

• 2020
• Shawna Dempsey

"Waitress" is about its title; a short documentary style series of interviews with Winnipeg waitresses, culminating in a portrait of service industry workers that is honest, humorous and most of all enjoyable to watch. The joys, complaints, frustrations and anecdotal reminiscences given by each waitress are edited together to supply the viewer with a better understanding of what this under appreciated profession is really about.

• 2020
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

The Headless Woman is a monologue by Shawna Dempsey that recounts a revelatory love story between a headless woman and a sword-swallowing man. It was performed live with a pianist and bass clarinetist who provide emphatic musical interludes and interjections and create a cabaret-style atmosphere.

• 2020
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

Originally a multichannel video installation at the Royal Ontario Museum, Archaeology and You contemplates fallen empires, language and the motivating power of fear.

• 2020
• Shawna Dempsey

Peril! charts the dangerous territory of women's everyday lives. The tightrope walker vacuums across Niagara Falls while pondering employment; the bearded lady waits by the phone while holding up the world; the human cannonball hurtles through space, unsure if she will ever land, but making the best of things. Using video imagery from Dempsey and Millan's performance, " The Headless Woman" (The Western Front, January 1998), this video features acts of daredeviltry by Sharon Bajer, Lorri Millan

• 2019
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

At long last, everything you’ve always wanted to know about down there, but were afraid to ask. A groovy guide to feminine hygiene wherein our heroine, Ms V., struts her stuff about town in the funkiest anatomical tour ever. She raps! She dances! She’s big! "We’re Talking Vulva" is a wear and care manual with kick- it’s a rock video.

• 2017
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

"Calamity" follows the Wild West heroine Calamity Jane through time.

• 2014
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

A woman is dragged through an empty field in scenario reminiscent of horror movies and news stories. But she is alert, impassive, and remains vigilantly focused on the camera. This hand-processed, Super 8 film juxtaposes degraded, awkwardly-staged footage of every woman's worst nightmare with an interior monologue regarding media representation of sexualized violence. The piece asks how violent, misogynist images play out in our psyches and in our culture. The film was commissioned by 8fest, To

• 2009
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

What would a feminist superhero look like? Could she leap tall buildings in a single bound? Could she bend steel with her bare hands? What would her name be? And would anyone remember it? Commissioned by MAWA's Art Building Community Symposium, performance artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan have created an aging superhero with unusual powers. Watch as she wrestles the notion of "super" to the ground! In light of reality TV and celebrity culture, where everyone who wants to be a superstar ca

• 2007
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

The Summer of Thought was unleashed upon the citizens of Winnipeg in 2007. For three months, Consideration Liberation Army agitated for unbridled thought and thoughtfulness.

• 1998
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

Using the metaphor of suburban architecture, "Homogeneity" archly critiques the desire for conformity within the/our queer community.

• 1996
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

"Good Citizen: Betty Baker" follows a civic-minded housewife as she tracks the missing Prince Phillip. This madcap chase takes our heroine Betty from our neighbor's trash, to a strangely exciting all-girls bar, to the arms of a handsome lady golfer. Cherry pie never looked so good.

• 1995
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

This video tells the story of a big boned butcher who finds passion and purpose. Both the public and the private lives of this “strange animal” are documented with the same mix of reverence and glee found in the exposés Bull-Dyke mocks. However, because we see the world through the eyes of the subject, this fictionalized history is filled with all the joy, pain and ambivalence each of us experiences.

• 1994
• Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan

Produced for Much Music’s Word Up program, "What Does a Lesbian Look Like?" examines a plethora of big dyke stereotypes and embraces them. Performed by Shawna Dempsey and a whole whack of gals. Created by Dempsey and Millan.