Paleface Paradise

Bill Blair

May 12 to June 17, 2006

Titled with a line of narrative from a BC Government travel film from the 1940s—Yesterday, Indian land of taboo; Today, a matchless paleface paradise—this exhibition consists of photomontaged imagery in unique hand-tinted silver gelatin prints which explore mid-20th century non-native appropriation of indigenous iconography.

Superimposed on utopian paint-by-number backgrounds, featuring subjects and motifs culled from a variety of historical sources (knitting patterns, catalogues, postcards), these works take aim at consumerism in the (re)construction of a national and personal identity. Ultimately, Paleface Paradise transcends the allure of both nostalgia and propaganda through Blair’s incisive and adept handling of cultural appropriation, tourism and the souvenir trade, colonialism and ownership.

Bill Blair lives and works in Victoria, BC. Over the past two decades he has exhibited his photo-based work in numerous group and solo shows regionally and internationally, most recently at Galeria La Mano Magica in Oaxaca, Mexico.