Alexis O'Hara

Alexis O'Hara is a Canadian transdisciplinary performer,[1][2] born in Ottawa, Ontario, and currently living and working in Montreal, Quebec.[3][4][5][6]

Since 1997, she has been active in the Montreal cabaret and experimental music scenes. O'Hara ran the Montreal poetry slam for several years before switching her focus to vocal and electronic music and interactive performance projects.[5][7] Subject to Change and The Sorrow Sponge, two projects in which audience participation and electronic clothing are elements,[8] have toured Canada, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Her live and recorded work concerns itself with language, anthropomorphism, the human brain and heart, and social order.

In 2009, she began working on immersive, interactive sound installations. SQUEEEQUE! The Improbable Igloo,[1][9] a dome built entirely from recycled speaker boxes, was presented at numerous media art festivals in Europe and Canada.[10] The work was the first acquisition to Basel's Haus der Elektronische Kunst's media art collection.[4][11]

She has been described as a "a mainstay of the cabaret scene in Montreal for years,"[12] performing in her drag king persona, Guizo LaNuit.[1][2] She began performing as Guizo in 2003.[3]

O'Hara is a frequent collaborator of Montreal based haute-drag / video installation artist duo 2boys.tv (Stephen Lawson and Aaron Pollard) having played a key role in Tightrope (2011–2016).[13]

O'Hara is the niece of Catherine O'Hara and Mary Margaret O'Hara.[5]

Discography

References

  1. ^ a b c d Stamos, George (January–February 2013). "Alexis O'Hara: In Conversation with George Stamos" (PDF). The Dance Current. pp. 50–55. ISSN 1496-1415. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 March 2026. Retrieved 10 March 2026 – via York University.
  2. ^ a b Tyburczy, Jennifer (2025). "NAFTA's Funeral". Queer Traffic: Sex, Panic, Free Trade. Duke University Press. pp. 199–207. doi:10.2307/jj.35877688.14. ISBN 9781478061182. JSTOR jj.35877688.14. OCLC 1497729384.
  3. ^ a b Knegt, Peter (13 April 2018). "Guizo of Montreal: This k.d. lang-impersonating drag king has definitely seen it all". CBC Arts. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b Radford, Deanna (19 October 2017). "Resonance and Rebellion: Alexis O'Hara". Herizons. 31 (2): 12. ProQuest 1991944345. Archived from the original on 4 June 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Volmers, Eric (8 May 2003). "A schizophrenic one-ma'am band; Slam poet-musician Alexis O'Hara brings pop, experimentation to spoken-word performance". The Record. Kitchener, Ontario. pp. F4. ProQuest 267035675.
  6. ^ Swoboda, Victor (25 February 2016). "Edgy Women has reached the brink |". The Gazette. Archived from the original on 5 March 2026. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  7. ^ Dunlevy, T'Cha (20 April 2000). "Scream of consciousness: Poetry slam mistress is reborn as electro- wordsmith Jimmy Brain". The Gazette. pp. C12. ProQuest 433593960.
  8. ^ Lawson, Stephen (2010). "Collaborating with the Accidental: Alexis O'Hara and the Art of Improvisation – Stephen Lawson". nomorepotlucks.org. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Blackwood & AGW Snag Exhibitions of the Year at OAAG Awards". Canadian Art. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 4 June 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  10. ^ "Artiste: Biographie: Alexis O'Hara". Société de musique contemporaine du Québec]. Archived from the original on 4 June 2025. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
  11. ^ "Alexis O'Hara, Squeeeeque A.K.A. the improbable Igloo". Haus der Elektronischen Künste (in German). 2011. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  12. ^ Knegt, Peter (17 July 2020). "Meet the 'toxically defensive uber-Karen' embodied by artist Alexis O'Hara in this wild performance". CBC Arts. Archived from the original on 29 December 2025. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  13. ^ Dickinson, Peter (2018). "'Still (Mighty) Real': HIV and AIDS, Queer Public Memories, and the Intergenerational Drag Hail". In Campbell, Alyson; Gindt, Dirk (eds.). Viral Dramaturgies: HIV and AIDS in Performance in the Twenty-First Century. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 117. ISBN 978-3-319-70316-9. OCLC 1029352553 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Moore, Nathaniel G. (November–December 2003). "(Pop artist Alexis O'Hara)". This. Vol. 37, no. 3. p. 43. ISSN 1491-2678. ProQuest 203544620.
  15. ^ Bonham, Karyn (2003). "Alexis O'Hara". Broken Pencil. No. 21. p. 74. ProQuest 1461972827.
  16. ^ a b "Alexis O'Hara". New Dance Alliance. 24 March 2016. Archived from the original on 22 March 2025. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
  17. ^ "Master Class with 2boys.tv & Alexis O'Hara". Video Pool Media Arts Centre. 2016. Archived from the original on 11 March 2026. Retrieved 10 March 2026.


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