[6] Brenda Draney uses stories, memories and family conversations to make subtle, powerful paintings.
Many of these memories are pulled from her childhood, and most centre around Slave Lake, the small town in Northern Alberta where she grew up.
[2] Draney subjects her own memory to the test, painting only what she can remember: fleeting flashes of actions and events, glimmers of people and moments.
[1]: 71 While many of her subjects seem banal, they allude to a broader and stronger undercurrent of destruction and loss: the devastating 1988 flood and 2011 fire of Slave Lake, and the effects of the Indian Act, residential schools, band membership, and Bill C-31 on Draney’s life and work.
It is a reference to both the temporary housing that the community of Slave Lake endured following the area’s recent natural disasters, and to the contemporary political movements to occupy space, such as Idle No More, Chief Theresa Spence’s encampment in Ottawa, and Edmonton's tent city, to name just a few.
In 2013 Draney was on the longlist for the Sobey Art Award, and in 2016 was the finalist representing Prairies and the North[9] As one five regional finalists, her work was presented in an exhibition at National Gallery of Canada,[10] and was featured on CBC radio's IDEAS episode with producer Mary Lynk.