Tanya Mars

Tanya Mars is a performance and video artist who has been involved in the Canadian art scene since 1973. Her work is often characterized as visually rich layers of spectacular, satirical feminist imagery. Mars has also been an active member of arts organizations since the early 70’s. She was a founding member and director of Powerhouse Gallery (La Centrale) in Montréal, the editor of Parallelogramme magazine for 13 years, and very active in ANNPAC (the Association of National Non-Profit Artist-run Centres) for 15 years. She has performed widely across Canada, and internationally, including in Svalbard, Chile, Mexico City, Sweden, Denmark, France, China, Finland, and the US. Mars is co-editor, with Johanna Householder, of Caught in the Act: an anthology of performance art by Canadian women (2004), and More Caught in the Act (2016), both published by YYZ books. She was a member of the 7a*11d in Toronto from 1998-2022. In 2004, Mars was named Artist of the Year for the Untitled Arts Awards in Toronto. She is the recipient of a 2008 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and was an International Artist in Residence at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris the same year. Mars has recently retired from teaching at the University of Toronto Scarborough after 25 years and currently lives off-grid in Middle Ohio, NS. She has one daughter and 3 grandsons.

Participation

2007 1999