Dorian Wood
Los Angeles, CA
Dorian Wood (pronouns: she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Using subject matter informed by her own perspective as a genderfluid brown person and a child of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan immigrants, Wood’s intent of “infecting” spaces and ideologies with her artistic practice is born from a desire to challenge traditions and systems that have contributed to the marginalization of people. Her work has been showcased in concert halls and performance spaces around the world, including at institutions like The Broad (Los Angeles), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Museo Nacional Del Prado (Madrid), and Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris (Mexico City). From 2019 to 2020, Wood completed several successful tours throughout Europe, Mexico and the U.S. with her chamber orchestra tribute to Chavela Vargas, XAVELA LUX AETERNA. In 2022, Wood debuted LHASA, a tribute to Lhasa de Sela, at the Festival Internacional de Arte Sacro in Madrid, as well as MARES OCULTOS, a multimedia chamber composition, at the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU. Wood is the recipient of a 2020 Creative Capital Award and a 2020 Art Matters Foundation grant, and is also a 2022 MacDowell Fellow and a 2022 Loghaven Fellow. She has released over a dozen recordings, most recently the albums Invasiva (2022) and 2020’s back-to-back releases ARDOR and REACTOR.
Dorian Wood performs CALA I.
Dorian Wood performs Nodrissx/Narcissx. Photo: Marisa Caichiolo.
Dorian Wood performs XALÁ at Moers Festival.
Dorian Wood performs Xavela Lux Aeterna. Photo: Joe Ricciardi.
Dorian Wood performs "No Soy De Aquí, Ni Soy De Allá" at REDCAT.
Dorian Wood performs CORPULENXIA.
Dorian Wood and Ensemble Crush performs "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" at Moers Festival.
Canto de Todes
Dorian Wood seeks to glorify both the sanctity and irreverence of intimacy.
Artist BioCanto de Todes is a 12-hour composition and installation, inspired by a lyric of the late Chilean singer and songwriter Violeta Parra. The project emphasizes the urgency of folk music as a vessel for social change. A genre-defying canon of songs arriving as a long-durational spatial experience, the work is divided into three movements – the first and third movements are hour-long chamber pieces influenced by folk, popular and experimental music. The second movement is a 10-hour pre-recorded piece unfolding throughout multiple spaces. Canto de Todes upends the expectation of the rigidness often associated with witnessing chamber music performances by offering a welcoming space that allows for individuals to project their personal, communal joys and traumas. It is a collaborative work with local artists who have historically been marginalized due to their nationality, race or an othered identity.