About


My name is Dayna McLeod and on June 1st, 2012, I turned 40. I also started a project in which I wore animal print for every moment of every day for one year. This project ended on May 31st, 2013 with Cougarliscious Point Final. at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse in Montreal.

On this site, you’ll find my daily documentation of this project and process under Cougar for a Year.

Because animal print was trending while I was doing the project and seemed to be everywhere, I documented some of these Cougar Sightings which have also been collected by other visitors to this site.

Here are the rules that I set for myself:

  • 60% visible animal print to pass (because of how many others seemed to be wearing animal print, in the late summer 2012, I started to try to keep this average above 90%)
  • Accessories count
  • Butterflies count
  • Cartoon depictions of animals don’t count; let’s stay away from kitten prints and big eyed, embroidered farm animals
  • Prints with animals depicted in them are okay, but they really need to be amazing. Obviously, this is subjective
  • Artificial and/or invented animal prints are okay; as long as they represent the *spirit* of animal print and the intent of the project
  • Fun fur/real fur doesn’t count unless it is animal printed (*potential exception: real fur that has had red paint thrown on it; if you have something like this, please contact me: dayna(at)daynarama.com)

Cougar for a Year bibliography

McLeod, Dayna. Spotting the Cougar: Performing Queer Middle-Aging in Cougar for A Year. Special Issue on Age and Performance, Guest editors: Benjamin Gillespie, Julia Henderson, Núria Casado-Gual, Theatre Research in Canada, Vol. 42, no. 2, Fall 2021.

McLeod, Dayna. Reflections on Performing Cougar. NOMOREPOTLUCKS, “Perform,” no. 32, Jan-Feb 2014 [via wayback machine].

Cowan, T.L.: Cabaret Performance and the Social Politics of Scene-Making. More Caught in the Act: An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women. Householder, Johanna; Mars, Tanya, eds. Toronto: yyzbooks, 2016.

Vaughn, RM. Women Who Run (off to the side of) the Wolves. cmagazine, c123: “Wet” Fall 2014.

Olivier, Marie-Claude G.. Se suivre : une volonté artistique et féministe émancipée du mythe pédagogique. Inter: art actuel, n 116, 2014, p. 60-63.

Lussier, Judith. Dayna McLeod, artiste cougar, Urbania, 28 Juin, 2013.

Montgomery, Sue. Cougar life: 40-year-old goes on the prowl for a PhD, A7, The Montréal Gazette, June 1, 2013.

Rosen, Estelle. The Cat’s Meow, The Question. The Charlebois Post, charpo-canada.com, February 4, 2013.

Burnett, Richard. MTL artist Dayna McLeod’s Cougar For a Year fashion project raises more than just eyebrows. The Montréal Gazette, 14 Jan. 2013

Slone, Abi. Welcome to the Jungle: Turning 40 was the beginning of a year-long project for Montréal performance artist Dayna McLeod, The Montréal Gazette, July 26, 2012.

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