Sierra MacTavish
Interdisciplinary Artist | Collage, Video, Photography & Databending
About
Sierra MacTavish is an emerging interdisciplinary artist based on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations “Vancouver, BC”. Her work explores how places are shaped by overlapping social and ecological histories, and how these histories are sensed, remembered, and experienced in the present. Through this, she examines how sites carry traces of environmental change, infrastructure, and social use, and how these traces can be reactivated through image and sound.Working with image and sound, she uses databending as both method and material practice. By editing photographs as audio and reprocessing them through visual synthesizers, she produces glitched visual and sonic fragments that are combined into immersive works.She views site-responsive work as a way of engaging both the social and ecological conditions embedded within environments.
SELECTED WORKS
this was a stream, 2025, Fine Art Print, 7.68 x 8.93 in Framed in metal 9. 25 x 10.25 in
play, 2025, Fine Art Print, 4.25 x 4.25 in Framed in CD caddy 4.75 x 5.5 in
Untitled, 2024
Fine art print, 5 × 7 in
Framed in metal, 9.5 × 8.5 in
In the Depths of Your Thoughts, 2023
Fine art print, 24 × 32 in
Perspectives, 2024
Fine art print, 5 × 5 in
Engraved Acrylic Frame, 5 x 5 in
SELECTED FILMS
Sleep Program, 2024
Single-channel video, 24 second loop. Displayed on LCD monitor with headphones
Ephemeral Imprints, 2024
Single-channel video, 15 second loop. HD video projection with sound
Angel, 2024
Single-channel video, 24-second loop. Displayed on CRTV monitor with headphones
Under a Microscope, 2024
Single-channel video, 13 second loop
Displayed on LCD monitor with headphones
Untitled, 2023
Single-channel video, 38 second loop
Displayed on LCD monitor
Salmon Run, 2025
Single-channel video, 31 second loop
HD video projection with sound
RESIDENCIES
2025 Summer Institute at Plug In Contemporary Art Gallery
During this residency, I explored collaborative art-making with salvaged materials, engaging with themes of history, materiality, and sustainable practices. The work centered on Colony Creek, a stream forced underground during Winnipeg’s development, which continues to flow unseen beneath the land where Plug In ICA now stands.
[ S i g n a l ] i n [ t h e ]
S t r e a m, 2025, 4.25 x 5.5 inches, 33 pages, Interactive Art Book
Inkjet Print on Linen Paper and Transparency, NFC’s
Listen along to the sounds in
[ S i g n a l ] i n [ t h e ] S t r e a m.
Use the map to discover the sites of
[ S i g n a l ] i n [ t h e ] S t r e a m.
Colony Creek, 2025
Single-channel video, 30 second loop
Displayed on LCD monitor
Interested in commissions, collaborations, or exhibitions?
Land Acknowledgment: I am based on the unceded, ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonially known as "Vancouver".I acknowledge that these lands have been stewarded since time immemorial by the Indigenous peoples who continue to resist displacement and erasure. My work is grounded in an ongoing commitment to learning, accountability, and relationship-building that supports Indigenous sovereignty and justice through both words and action.This acknowledgment is not a substitute for reparative work, but a reminder that everything I create and share is shaped by being a guest on this land.