64
Ghislaine Sinclair
I
am an English and Contemporary Studies student who cares deeply about the decolonization of Canadian literature, enjoys discussing the distinction between “Canadian Literature” and “CanLit,” and thinks the claim that Canadian literature is boring is false. This paper is about a play by an Indigenous writer that engages with the photography of a white settler to consider Indigenous identity. I am a white settler, meaning I cannot speak with authority about the experiences presented in the play, and have kept this fact in mind while writing about The Edward Curtis Project. That being said, while the play is about Indigenous issues as written about by an Indigenous author, it is as much about the work of a white man who created and propagated deeply problematic images of Indigenous people—images which are often not characterized as such. I think it is important, as a settler, to consider these representations critically, so as to not replicate them; and to seek out and engage with representations of Indigeneity created by Indigenous people, so as to try and drown out the unauthorized representations which saturate media of all forms.
- Ghislaine Sinclair