It's raison d'être is to encourage people to engage in dialogue regarding issues of race and gender. It is certainly a jarring image, as was its intent. Although both images have almost the same arrangement, the first will stand out as being the most subversive of the pair. Blackface is a shameful relic of the past. It is exploitative to an entire race.

The Gold Dust Twins were spokespeople for a type of cleaning powder at the turn of the century. They were one of the first brand mascots. They had their own radio program, songbooks, billboards and were in nearly ever household and yet their image has completely disappeared. This form of racism, although not completely eviscerated, has been transferred into the taboo. But what has replaced it? What stereotypes, whose image is now manipulated for our commercial needs?

Sexuality, particularly female sexuality, is one such pervasive replacement. However, I am never asked to defend the image. A half naked teenager selling jeans is completely normal... or at the very least expected. Identities are shaped and supported by the dominant forces in society. A group may be controlled by the constructs that are fabricated for them and perpetuated by them. I hope to underline this dichotomy with Gold Dust. The vaudevillian air to the pieces add levity, but not without unavoidably bringing up a few questions. Gold Dust Twins was not intended to simply be polemic. Combined, they reflect our own attitudes and categorization. 


EDUCATION
2005-2007, 2006 2004-2005
Photography Program Graduate, Honours, Algonquin College, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Alternative Processes Photography Workshop, SPAO, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Studio Arts Program, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Beheld (alongside Low, Jesse Burke), Perth International Arts Festival, Perth Centre for Photography, Perth, WA, Australia Les quintuplées Dionne, Dale Smith Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Beheld, Festival X, Dale Smith Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Cocks and Doilies, Atomic Rooster Bistro, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
OCT 2011
Urban Portraits II, Archetype Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia Persona, Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, Vermont, USA Sotiri Prize exhibition, gallery Guri Madhi, Korce, Albania I am not a good enough feminist, Concrete Utopia, NY, NY, USA Labo Show, Labo, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Here and There, Propeller Center for the Visual Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada New Work, Dale Smith Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Slideluck Potshow, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada A Private Collection of Glenn McInnes: Canadian Photography, Festival X, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Portraits of Bluesfest, CUBE Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
IRIS Awards, Perth Centre for Photography, Perth, WA, Australia
Out of Sight, Out of Mind, St-Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Exposed: Pervasive Influence, Contact Photography Festival, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
e Les VI Jeux de la Francophonie Laureates Exhibition, 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Cultural Olympiads, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
New Work, Dale Smith Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
SPAO Print Sale, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Feminism: Now, Anna Leonowens Gallery, NSCAD, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Naked in the Capital, Arts and Architecture Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
e VI Jeux de la Francophonie Artist’s Exhibition, Palais de l’Unesco, Beirut, Lebanon
Likeness, Karsh Festival, SPAO, Ottawa, Ontario New Work, Dale Smith Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario Graduating Student APR 2007
Exhibition, Algonquin College, Ottawa, Ontario

BGS (COLLECTIVE WITH SARAH BECK) EXHIBITIONS
JUL 2011 Shift de nuit, Jeux de la francophonie canadienne, Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Sudbury, Canada
JUN 2011 Malbourse (collective installation), Harbourfront Center, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

AWARDS AND GRANTS
2011 Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2010 Canada Council for the Arts, Travel Grant to Professionals in the Visual Arts
e 2009 Gold medal winner representing Canada in photography at the VI Jeux de la
Francophonie in Beirut, Lebanon 2007 Adobe Digital Imaging Award for outstanding proficiency in digital imaging and web design

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
2010 Les quintuplées Dionne series acquired by the Canadian Museum of Civilization as part of their permanent collection
2010 “Communion” of Les quintuplées Dionne, private collection of the McInnes Family

RESIDENCIES
th 2011 Les jeux de la francophonie canadiennne, July 20-24 , Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
2010 Cultural Olympiad, Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, Place de la Francophonie,

Portfolio review participant, Mois de la Photo à Montréal Biennale, Arsenal gallery, Montréal, Québec, Canada Guest photographer, Rad Art (television program), TFO, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Children’s workshop, FrancoQueer, Toronto Pride Festival, Toronto, Ontario Workshop leader, Vision d’art provincial youth francophone festival, Béatrice- Desloges, Orléans, Ontario, Canada
Invited speaker, Vision d’art festival, Béatrice-Desloges, Orleans, Ontario, Canada
Artist’s talk, Photography program, la Cité Collégiale, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Juror, Best Creative Advertisement Award, Algonquin Photography Program Graduates Exhibition, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2009 VI Jeux de la Francophonie, Canadian representative for Photography, Septembert, Beirut, Lebanon

WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2011 Room Magazine (Cover), Winter issue, Canada 2011
Art Guide Australia, January/February edition, Australia 2011
Perth International Arts Festival, visual arts catalogue, Perth, WA, Australia
2010 Out of Sight, Out of Mind, exhibition catalogue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
2009 Feminism: Now, exhibition catalogue, NASCAD, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
2009 Catalogue des Participants aux Concours Culturels, VI Jeux de la Francophonie, Beirut, Lebanon

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY (see artist website)