Rosalie Favell: Indigenous Artists Facing the Camera: Block Museum - Northwestern University
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Rosalie Favell: Indigenous Artists Facing the Camera

September 20-December 3, 2023
Main Gallery
Rosalie Favell, Portraits from the series Facing the Camera (2018)

Rosalie Favell (b. 1958) is a photo-based Métis artist from Canada whose work is inspired by her Indigenous heritage."Rosalie Favell: Indigenous Artists Facing the Camera" presents over 115 black and white portraits that speak loudly of the broad diversity of Indigenous people engaged in the arts and cultural community. The exhibition draws from the artist’s monumental archive "Facing the Camera," consisting of more than 500 photographs taken between 2008 and 2018 in North America and Australia, as well as a selection of new portraits showcasing the vibrant and thriving community of Indigenous artists based in and near Chicago. Favell’s work is a living visual history and a critical intervention in expanding the visibility of contemporary Indigenous artists and arts professionals. 

Rosalie Favell: Indigenous Artists Facing the Camera is curated by Corinne Granof, Academic Curator, and Felipe Gutierrez, 2022–23 Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, at The Block Museum of Art. Major support for the exhibition is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition is also generously supported by the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation, the Alumnae of Northwestern University, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Explore Rosalie Favell works in The Block's Collection

Rosalie Favell in residence at The Block

The Block was proud to collaborate with Rosalie Favell on an initiative to reprise Facing the Camera with a series created during a May 2023 residency at the Museum. As part of the artist's residency, a photography session was generously hosted at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston. The Block exhibition includes 20 new portraits by the artist featuring Indigenous artists, curators, and arts professionals from Chicagoland. Chicago is home to one of the largest urban Indigenous populations in the US, and confluences among Native and non-Native peoples have generated creative practices and shaped visual arts across generations. 

 

Facing the Camera - Chicago Portraits

Annabelle Broeffle Le'Ana Asher
Audra Simpson Lois Taylor Biggs
Cherish Parrish Lydia Cheshewalla
Chris Pappan Mark Jourdan
Courtney Biggs Michaela Marchi
Debra Yepa-Pappan Monica Rickert-Bolter
Ji Hae Yepa-Pappan Nora Moore Lloyd
June Carpenter Ryan Rice
Kelly Church Sharon Hoogstraten
Kim Vigue Vince Romero
Annabelle Broeffle, Evanston, IL, 2023

Annabelle Broeffle, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Audra Simpson, Evanston, IL, 2023

Audra Simpson, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Cherish Parrish, Evanston, IL, 2023

Cherish Parrish, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Chris Pappan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Chris Pappan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Courtney Biggs and Lois Taylor Biggs, Evanston, IL, 2023

Courtney Biggs and Lois Taylor Biggs, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Courtney Biggs, Evanston, IL, 2023

Courtney Biggs, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Debra Yepa-Pappan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Debra Yepa-Pappan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Ji Hae Yepa-Pappan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Ji Hae Yepa-Pappan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
June Carpenter, Evanston, IL, 2023

June Carpenter, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish, Evanston, IL, 2023

Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Kelly Church, Evanston, IL, 2023

Kelly Church, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Kim Vigue, Evanston, IL, 2023

Kim Vigue, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Le'Ana Asher, Evanston, IL, 2023

Le'Ana Asher, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Lois Taylor Biggs, Evanston, IL, 2023

Lois Taylor Biggs, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Lydia Cheshewalla, Evanston, IL, 2023

Lydia Cheshewalla, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Mark Jourdan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Mark Jourdan, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Me, Rosalie Favell, Evanston, IL, 2023

Me, Rosalie Favell, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Michaela Marchi, Evanston, IL, 2023

Michaela Marchi, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Monica Rickert-Bolter, Evanston, IL, 2023

Monica Rickert-Bolter, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Nora Moore Lloyd, Evanston, IL, 2023

Nora Moore Lloyd, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Ryan Rice, Evanston, IL, 2023

Ryan Rice, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Sharon Hoogstraten, Evanston, IL, 2023

Sharon Hoogstraten, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches
Vince Romero, Evanston, IL, 2023

Vince Romero, Evanston, IL, 2023

Inkjet print, 25 x 20 inches

" The impetus for the series derived from my realization that a document had not been made of individuals who make up the Indigenous arts community....I have continued to photograph artists in different cities in an attempt to give as much representation to my community as possible.

In these images, as in all my work, I see the photograph as a performance space, where identity is constantly worked and reworked, represented, and perhaps hidden. I use the portrait convention to acknowledge the agency of the individual in bringing together in a conscious and unconscious way, the numerous cultural and personal factors through which the sense of self is expressed. This idea applies to me taking pictures of my self, and others, who stand before my camera, seeing their selves revealed in the photograph." 

– Rosalie Favell

About the Artist

image_rosalie-favell_2019.jpgRosalie Favell is a photo-based artist, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Drawing inspiration from her family history and Métis (Cree/English) heritage, she uses a variety of sources, from family albums to popular culture, to present a complex self-portrait of her experiences as a contemporary aboriginal woman. To date Rosalie’s work has explored the relation of photography to issues of identity. A major body of recent work, Facing the Camera (2008-ongoing), is a large document of Aboriginal artists (450+). Favell has received enormous support from her fellow Aboriginal artists for her project, photographing them in different cities to give as much representation of her community as possible. During her residency in Australia in 2016, she met renowned Aboriginal artist Maree Clarke. This key encounter inspired her to initiate a new project, Wrapped in Culture, which brought together 10 Indigenous artists from Australia and Canada. Collaboratively the artists created a contemporary version of a possum skin cloak and a buffalo robe, drawing from culturally distinct yet similar artistic traditions that historically have sacred and practical uses.

Over the course of her long career, Favell’s work has appeared in exhibitions in Canada, the US, Edinburgh, Scotland, Paris, France, Taipei, Taiwan and Melbourne, Australia. Numerous institutions have acquired her artwork including: National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (Ottawa), Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.), and Global Affairs, Canada. She has received numerous grants, and won prestigious awards such as the Ontario Arts Foundation – Paul DeHuek/Norman Walford Career Achievement Award, the Chalmers Fellowship, the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunten Award and the Karsh Award.  A graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, Rosalie holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Mexico and a PhD (ABD) from Carleton University in Cultural Mediations. In Ottawa Rosalie has taught at Carleton University, the University of Ottawa and Discovery University.

For Journalists

Download Exhibition Press Kit

For additional media inquiries please contact Lindsay Bosch, Associate Director, Marketing, Communications and Digital Strategy (lindsay.bosch [at] northwestern.edu)