“Why is it that, let’s see 400 hundred years later or 300 hundred years later, women who are powerful are still feared or shunned or considered to be as spinsters or categorized in a certain way? Like what’s going on?”
Tanya Mars grew up in a small mid-western town in the United States. Art was not offered as a course in her high school and she had no thoughts of going to university. Despite what might have been barriers she has had an award-winning career as a feminist performance and video artist. She is a teacher of performance art and video at UTSC and is part of the graduate faculty of the Master of Visual Studies Program at the University of Toronto, St. George campus.
I don’t know, it was the 60s
Oh baby, you know, the [feminist] drum is beating loud and clear
I try to teach them to be their own worst critics
Interview Participant: Tanya Mars
Interviewer: Asha Mattis
Location: UTSC campus
Photographer: Ken Jones
Date of Interview: June 3, 2015
To hear the full audio of the oral history interviews visit: Scarborough Oral History Project