Stacey Tyrell, Mistress and Slave, 2018, archival print, 30 x 40 inches, Edition of 3
STACEY TYRELL
Stacey Tyrell’s work examines identity, race and heritage in the context of post-colonial societies and the Caribbean Diaspora.
Stacey Tyrell studied photography at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. In 2012, she was chosen by Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward as a top emerging Canadian photographer. Tyrell lives in New York City and exhibits internationally. Her work has appeared in exhibitions at The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, The Canadian Museum for Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, Harbourfront Center, Toronto, The Power Plant, Toronto, Art Gallery of Windsor, The Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, Austria, Sol Mednick Gallery of Photography, Philadelphia, PA, Gallery Cultural Speak, Amsterdam, Netherlands and currently at Art Museum in Toronto. Her images are included in the collections of Wedge, Heritage Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and Montreal Arts Interculturels and numerous private collections. Tyrell’s work has been published in Pictures from Paradise: A Survey of Contemporary Caribbean Photographers, Canadian Art Magazine, ARC Magazine, Huffington Post, Prefix Photo, The Wondereur and Applied Arts Magazine.
Stacey Tyrell featured in Huffington Post 2015
Stacey Tyrell featured on Beautiful Decay April 2015
Pour La Victoire
In her series, Pour La Victoire, she transforms her physical appearance through make-up and costume to pose as allegorical personifications of European and North American nations. These iconic representations share common features; they epitomize an ideal of white womanhood embodying public aspirations, summoned at different times in history to galvanize people in a common fight. The figure is always virginal and demure, nobly pointing the way to enlightenment and victory for her country, rallying patriots to defend her as the righteous incarnation of homeland. Her far-gazing eyes point toward a glorious manifest destiny awaiting her subjects. An assumed cultural superiority entwined with notions of progress and civilization permeates her magnanimous demeanour.
Tyrell’s images perform a radical subversion of these national emblems, substituting her racialized body for the Eurocentric ideal, any signs of difference concealed. Enduring paradoxes embedded within the relationships of colonial powers and their former subjects are highlighted in this exchange. The promise of maternal, unbiased love is contradicted by the figures’ chilling remoteness and militaristic stance. An irreconcilable disjunction lies beneath these symbols of nationhood, hinting at an ambivalence of purpose and unmasking an effort to protect privilege and power under the cover of lies. - Mona Filip, 2023
Counter/Self exhibition at ART MUSEUM at the University of Toronto, January 11 - March 25, 2023
Curated by Mona Filip
Chattel Series
The story of the West Indies is one that has always been transient and the island of Nevis where my family is from is no exception. Nearly every aspect of the island, it’s structures and people have at some point been chattels. Older chattel houses supported on rocks remain a legacy fo plantation life when at any moment possessions and house would be packed up and moved to another part of the island. People were no exception. Waves of immigration in the 1950’s and 60’s created an exodus of young people to England, Canada and the United States in search of an escape from poverty. These people were able to create new lives that soon replaced their old ones. Returning home became a ritual in which each visit would create a sense of displacement. Memories and attachments became moved and changed within the new landscape that the were confronted with. As time passed many returned to find that a lot of their family and friends had either died or moved away.
I myself feel this every time I return. The romanticized images of my youth lay in stark contrast the changes that are now taking place, causing me to create new relationships and contexts within the landscape. Nevis is in the midst of transition. Everywhere there are examples of contemporary life coexisting with a way of life that is partly becoming extinct. The dirt roads and donkeys that I remember have now been replaced with pavement and feel farm animals that have long been neglected. Whenever I return I try to form some connection to what I am seeing and constantly am trying to figure out where exactly I belong within it.
