In this work, Dana Claxton uses performance, found objects and video to strongly state her message. The work refers to British colonial policies that resulted in the decimation of the buffalo and had devastating effects upon Indigenous people who relied heavily on the buffalo for their survival. Buffalo bones were gathered into huge piles on the prairie and crushed bones were exported to England to be used in the production of fine bone china.

Curator Tania Willard states about the performance and installation of Claxton ‘s politically charged Buffalo Bone China, that “[a] more visceral sense of the political act in Dana’s work is seen in her 1997 performance and installation, Buffalo Bone China. In the performance Dana smashes pieces of china and later makes four bundles and places them in a sanctified circle while an experimental video of buffalo plays. Feeling the loss of the buffalo, the backbone of Plains spirituality and sustenance, the artist uses a rubber mallet to destroy plates and bowls. The breaking of the china refers to the use of buffalo bones in the making of bone china during the period of exploitation and decimation of the buffalo.” (Willard, 2007)

In an interview between the artist and Willard, Willard states, “[o]ur laughter, our cultures, and our spirituality are our survival and this survival becomes another layer, another part of the journey in Dana’s work. Her practice chronicles these histories – the personal and the political – in a way no textbook can ever retell these stories. She tells these stories with heart and spirit, bringing these histories to life, relating them to her own family and journey.” (Willard, 2007)

– From the Mackenzie Art Gallery’s website