Woman Scrubbing Floor and Woman Sitting on Boardwalk

Artist: Sharon Bird

Curator: Cathi Charles Wherry

Date: June 8 to 24, 1995

Sharon Bird presented two sepia prints which represent a major portion of her work that addressed colonial discourse, where the representation of 'the subject' was a central issue. 

As Sharon Bird explained,

"American photographer, Edward Curtis devoted many years to documenting American Indians; what he thought was a 'dying race'. Many of his images were staged, often including props (NAtive-made 'artifacts' or objects) that skewed the represented cultures. 

From a position of being 'in looking out', I began to experiment with some of the ideas that motivated Edward Curtis, with one exception. I didn't want to project a romantic or ideal image of the subjects, so I chose to photograph situations rarely represented in photographs of the late 1800's; fur trade women doing domestic chores or just sitting around by themselves."

Sharon Bird, "Artist's Statement", Open Space Archives, Victoria, B.C. (Box 27, 1995: V6)