The theme of identity is predominant in the work of Stacey Tyrell. This Canadian artist of Scottish and Caribbean origins confronts prejudice and photographs herself in order to condemn racial ideology. Taking inspiration from her family’s heritage, Tyrell uses makeup and costumes to transform herself into a white woman and throw the viewer off balance.
With this theatrical approach, she wants to deconstruct racial ideas, suggesting that people from post-colonial societies have multiple identities which extend beyond the color of their skin.
Backra Bluid is West African slang for “white person” (backra) and Scottish for “blood” or “kinship” (bluid).
Stacy Tyrell is also a part of the exhibition Pictures From Paradise featuring the work of Caribbean photographers, where she’s presenting her project Dada’s Funeral. Based in Brooklyn, she received the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward Award in 2012.
EXHIBITION
Stacey Tyrell: Backra Bluid
General Hardware Contemporary
1520 Queen St. W. Toronto
Canada M6R 1A4
www.staceytyrell.com
www.generalhardware.ca
