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| Stacey Tyrell, Backra Bluid (Bonnie, 35 yrs. and Twins Lara and Maisie, 9 yrs.), 2011, Archival Epson print, 40 x 30 inches. Image via gcs-art.eu. © Stacey Tyrell. |
Backra
Bluid
September 7 – October 19, 2013
Postjesweg
6-8
1027 EA
Amsterdam
the
Netherlands
Gallery
Cultural Speech is proud to present the first solo exhibition by the Canadian
photographer Stacey Tyrell in The Netherlands. Backra Bluid will be opened in
the presence of the artist on September 7 at 18:00.
‘Backra’
is Caribbean slang, referring to ‘white master’ or ‘white person’. ‘Bluid’ is
the Scottish word for blood and skin. As a black child attending a
predominantly white school, Tyrell would find herself confronted with the
proudly proclaimed Scottish, Irish and English heritage of her classmates.
Whenever she mentions her own family ties with England, she is often met with
uncomfortable looks. Her background reminds white people above all of the
legacy of slavery.
In Backra
Bluid, Tyrell portraits herself as a white woman. Dressed up as a bored
schoolgirl or as a rich lady, covered in fur with diamond earrings, Tyrell
demonstrates that black and white people are really not so different. Apart
from the color of their skin, that is.
The
series The Great White Hope, also on view at Gallery Cultural
Speech, shows beauty products with names as ‘Fair and Lovely’ and ‘White
Beauty’. These pots, powders and tubes are supposed to whiten the skin. Tyrell:
‘Through their use it seems that any previous self-hating and self-doubt can be
simply lightened or erased.’
Stacey
Tyrell (1978 Toronto, Canada), studied photography at the Ontario College of
Art and Design. In 2012 lash Forward chose her as one of the top Emerging
Photographers in Canada. That same year she was granted the Ontario Arts
Council Emerging Artist Grant.
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