Emergence from the Shadow:
First Peoples' Photographic Perspectives was presented from 22 October
1999 until 6 January 2002 in the art gallery of the First Peoples Hall
of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Popular culture from cigar store icons to television and the Hollywood
western has played a major role in creating and ingraining stereotypical
images of the North American Indian. Emerging from the shadow cast by this
popularized notion of Indian life, this exhibitions two perspectives
on First Peoples explore themes of community and continuity, and how the
past influences the present in both cultural and artistic terms.
The first perspective Through the Anthropologists Camera
examines the work of four anthropologists who studied First Peoples for the
Geological Survey of Canada (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization) during
the early twentieth century. Culled from thousands of fieldwork photographs
in the Canadian Museum of Civilizations archives, this astonishing
record represents a new genre called "fieldwork portraiture".
Demonstrating the control First Peoples often exerted over the photographic
process, these images bear witness to the sitters vanishing world
left as a gift to future generations.
The second facet of the exhibition Perspectives from the Urban Frontier
showcases the work of six contemporary First Peoples artists. Their
various photo-based works speak to self-determination, to the reality of
todays urban First Peoples, and to the deep bond that exists between
modern First Peoples and their ancestors.
Jeffrey M. Thomas, guest curator
Onondaga First Nation
Through the Anthropologists Camera
Anthropologists in the field often used photography as part of their documentary
process, and the Canadian Museum of Civilizations archives include many
thousands of photographs recording various aspects of First Peoples life. These
include numerous photographs of individuals a photographic genre which
has since been dubbed "fieldwork portraiture". Notably absent from
the photographs taken by the anthropologists profiled in this exhibition were
stereotypical images of feather headdresses, painted faces, and bows and arrows.
The intimacy of the bond between photographer and sitter quickly becomes apparent
in this selection of photographs. More than a simple anthropological record, the
photographs provide a window to the past, enabling us to become better acquainted
with the living and breathing people they portray. Through this photographic
record, the sitters have, in effect, ensured that evidence of their world would
be guarded for future discovery by their descendants.
Perspectives from the Urban Frontier
In 1983, the Native American Photographers Show, held in Oklahoma, brought together
First Peoples artists from across North America. The show not only heralded a new
vision of North American First Peoples, but also made it clear that there were
large numbers of aboriginal photographic artists at work across the continent.
The contemporary works featured in Emergence from the Shadow reflect the legacy
of early photographic experimentation in the 1980s. Artists like Shelley Niro and
Greg Staats were part of this first wave of aboriginal contemporary photographers,
and their artistic vision laid the groundwork for a new and critical response to a
history that had included the faces of First Peoples, but not their voices.
Historically, popular photographic interest in First Peoples culture focused
on the sublime "Indian warrior," a free-roaming, pre-reserve
figure. Commercial photographers also left out the less picturesque aspects of
reserve and urban First Peoples life, in favour of the romanticized "Indian
warrior" postcard approach.
By contrast, contemporary artists like Mary Anne Barkhouse, Rosalie Favell, Barry Ace
and Greg Hill confront the urban realities of todays First Peoples. Rather
than perpetuating imagery from the past, they address complex contemporary social
issues through their creation of photographic works of art.
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