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Ep 51: Disabled Artists

Title: Kevin Haywahe, Assiniboine First Nation, 1990, pigment print on archival paper. By Jeff Thomas: "The photo I have attached is from my powwow portrait series "Strong Hearts." My aim is to take an iconic image of Indianness and invite each dancer to return the tourist gaze and open a conversation."
Title: Kevin Haywahe, Assiniboine First Nation, 1990, pigment print on archival paper. By Jeff Thomas: “The photo I have attached is from my powwow portrait series ‘Strong Hearts.’ My aim is to take an iconic image of Indianness and invite each dancer to return the tourist gaze and open a conversation.”

Today’s episode features an interview with Jeff Thomas, an urban Iroquois photographer, artist, researcher, public speaker, and curator based in Ottawa, Ontario in Canada. Jeff will talk about racism, indigeneity, colonialism and how his photography re-contextualizes historical images of First Nations people. We also talk about how art weaves in the past, present, and future.

Transcript

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About

Jeff Thomas, an urban Iroquois man with brown hair with touches of gray and a beard. He is smiling at the camera. Photo credit: Justin Wonnacott
Jeff Thomas, an urban Iroquois man with brown hair with touches of gray and a beard. He is smiling at the camera. Photo credit: Justin Wonnacott

Jeff Thomas (b. 1956, Buffalo, New York) is an urban-based Iroquois, self-taught photo-based artist, writer, pubic speaker, and curator, living in Ottawa, Ontario, and has works in major collections in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Jeff’s most recent solo shows were A Necessary Fiction: My Conversation with Edward S. Curtis & George Hunter, Art Gallery of Mississauga, The Dancing Grounds, Wanuskewin Heritage Park (Saskatoon), A Necessary Fiction: My Conversation with Nicholas de Grandmaison, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery (Lethbridge), and Resistance Is NOT Futile, Stephen Bulger Gallery (Toronto). Thomas has also been in many group shows, including  The Family Camera, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971-1989, Art Gallery of Ontario, Land/Slide: Possible Futures, Markham, Ontario, SAKAHÀN, National Gallery of Canada, UNMASKING: Arthur Renwick, Adrian Stimson, Jeff Thomas, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France. In 1998, he was awarded the Canada Council’s prestigious Duke and Duchess of York Award in Photography, inducted to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, in 2008 he received The Karsh Award in photography, and in 2017 received a REVAL Indigenous Art Award. Thomas has also been awarded grants from the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council.

Website: https://jeff-thomas.ca/

 

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Credits

Cheryl Green, Audio Producer and Transcriber

Alice Wong, Writer, Producer, Interviewer

Lateef McLeod, Introduction

Mike Mort, Artwork

Theme Music (used with permission of artist)

Song: “Hard Out Here for A Gimp”

Album: NO BIG DEAL

Artist: Wheelchair Sports Camp

Music

Small Daffs” and “The Sighful Branches” by Axletree. Source: freemusicarchive.org. (Licensed under a Attribution License.)

Sounds

“VOCODER countdown” by Jack_Master. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.

8 Bit Beeping Computer Sounds” by sheepfilms. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.

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