"Seeing 2020: Mind The Gap" Keynote Performance

Celebrated Inuk performer Tanya Tagaq employs exquisite, unnerving vocal improvisations that bridge traditional roots with contemporary culture.

Her music is a contortion of punk, metal, and electronica into a complex and contemporary sound. Hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of today’s most electric, transfixing performers in any genre,” Tagaq was the recipient of Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize in 2014 for her album “Animism.”

She has also been named to the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honors.

“Retribution” is Tagaq’s portrait of a violent world in crisis, hovering on the brink of destruction. It’s a complex protest that links lack of respect for women’s rights to lack of respect for the planet, to lack of respect for Indigenous rights.

Part of Cornerstone Arts Week 2020, Tagaq’s appearance is sponsored by the NEH Professorship.