Indian Princesses and Cowgirls Stereotypes from the Frontier
Curated by Marilyn Burgess and Gail Guthrie Valaskakis
An exhibition of antique prints depicting stereotypes about race and femininity dominant early in this century.
Additional Information
Rodeo Queen, 1959. Colour calendar photograph
An exhibition of antique prints such as postcards, calendars, and sheet music depicting "Indian princesses" and "cowgirls," as well as historical black and white photographs taken at Canada's earliest rodeos. These are grouped together by stylistic convention to reveal a number of key stereotypes about race and femininity which became dominant early this century. The "Indian princesses" who grace the calendars and postcards of the WWI era embody mystery and exoticism, usually scantily clad and wearing a feather over two long braids of hair. They are also, almost without exception, white skinned. By contrast, the earliest photographs of rodeo and wild west show, depict "cowgirls" as butch women wearing pants and performing dangerous stunts on horseback, enacting the fantasy originally attributed to the Native huntress and warrior as she was imagined in the nineteenth century.
When
1999, Apr 4 1999 - All day
Where
Dunlop Central Gallery,
Interest
Past