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Jeff Thomas
Canadian, 1956
Jeff Thomas is a self-taught artist, researcher, and independent curator, currently based in Ottawa. He is a member of the Six Nations Reserve and was born in Buffalo, New York in 1956. Thomas became more interested in photography after surviving a car accident in 1979. His work examines stereotypes of Indigenous history through photography, particularly focusing on contemporary self-representation and the absence of depictions of urban Indigenous people. His earlier work often featured his son, Bear.
On his website, Thomas states on the Indians on Tour series:
“…[It] began in 2000 when friend and documentary film maker Ali Kazimi sent me a package with five plastic Indian figures and one cowboy—two of which Ali used to introduce his documentary film on my work ‘Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeff Thomas.’ Along with the figures was a note that said: ‘You will find something interesting to do with them.’ …I was intrigued by the juxtaposition and the multi-layered meanings. The plastic figures become markers of childhood games of ‘cowboys and Indians’ based on TV shows and movie westerns, of souvenir shop stereotypes, and of historical re-enactment parks found at Frontier Town and Euro-Disney. They also reference the Native people who went ‘on tour’ in these early historical re-enactments like the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Yet the photographs reverse the typical pattern of tourism. The Indian figures now visit popular non-Native tourist sites of North America and Europe.”
Ali Kazimi also created the documentary Shooting Indians in 1997, which was about Jeff Thomas. In 1998, Thomas was the recipient of the Duke & Duchess of York Prize in Photography from the Canada Council for the Arts. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 2003. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2019.
Jeff Thomas has had many solo and group exhibitions of his work. He has also worked in various capacities with archival photographs. There are several collections that contain his artwork, including the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Library and Archives Canada, the National Gallery of Canada, the Ottawa Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and others.
Sources: https://jeff-thomas.ca/artist-statement-2/
https://jeff-thomas.ca/2014/04/indians-on-tour/ https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/jeffrey-thomas
On his website, Thomas states on the Indians on Tour series:
“…[It] began in 2000 when friend and documentary film maker Ali Kazimi sent me a package with five plastic Indian figures and one cowboy—two of which Ali used to introduce his documentary film on my work ‘Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeff Thomas.’ Along with the figures was a note that said: ‘You will find something interesting to do with them.’ …I was intrigued by the juxtaposition and the multi-layered meanings. The plastic figures become markers of childhood games of ‘cowboys and Indians’ based on TV shows and movie westerns, of souvenir shop stereotypes, and of historical re-enactment parks found at Frontier Town and Euro-Disney. They also reference the Native people who went ‘on tour’ in these early historical re-enactments like the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Yet the photographs reverse the typical pattern of tourism. The Indian figures now visit popular non-Native tourist sites of North America and Europe.”
Ali Kazimi also created the documentary Shooting Indians in 1997, which was about Jeff Thomas. In 1998, Thomas was the recipient of the Duke & Duchess of York Prize in Photography from the Canada Council for the Arts. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 2003. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2019.
Jeff Thomas has had many solo and group exhibitions of his work. He has also worked in various capacities with archival photographs. There are several collections that contain his artwork, including the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Library and Archives Canada, the National Gallery of Canada, the Ottawa Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and others.
Sources: https://jeff-thomas.ca/artist-statement-2/
https://jeff-thomas.ca/2014/04/indians-on-tour/ https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/jeffrey-thomas