Learn how to decode Canadian art | TVO Arts

Bravo on the decoding. You’re definitely getting the hang of this and your mind is growing. So don’t stop now!

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I created Hometown Queen to re-write my personal history and to pay homage to my complicated relationship with my hometown, Hamilton.”

Why would the artist choose performance as her medium?

Hometown Queen by Camille Turner, was created in 2010.  It's part of a larger series featuring the artist's character, Miss Canadiana - a fictitious pageant queen who makes live appearances around the world. Follow along, as Miss Canadiana travels back to her childhood home to tell a story of race and belonging.

TVO Arts, Camille Turner Hometown Queen

00:01
(gentle music)
00:06
NARRATOR: Art has long been used
00:07
to define what a nation is
00:09
and who belongs there.
00:11
But art can also be used to challenge
00:14
and change those same ideas.
00:16
This is Hometown Queen by Camille Turner.
00:20
Created in 2010,
00:22
the photograph features the character
00:23
for which she's best known,
00:25
Miss Canadiana.
00:28
HEIDI: I see a beauty queen.
00:31
She is black.
00:33
She is holding yellow roses,
00:35
and she is in front of a sepia toned picture
00:38
of some kind of factory.
00:40
DERRON: My first reaction is it's a black beauty queen
00:43
and it's in colour,
00:45
and it's so nice to see,
00:46
'cause you don't usually see that in society,
00:49
where a black person is so prominent in a picture
00:53
or as a Canadian beauty queen.
00:55
SUNITA: Only thing that stands out is that
00:57
this woman has been photoshopped into this background.
01:00
So meaning that she doesn't belong there.
01:03
NARRATOR: Wearing her trademark red gown,
01:05
tiara, and sash,
01:07
Miss Canadiana strikes a jovial pose in front of all things,
01:11
a steel mill, dazzling and regal.
01:14
The beauty queen clutches a bouquet of roses
01:17
and shoots a big, bright smile at the camera.
01:20
Striking, familiar.
01:22
The image feels like a postcard or an ad,
01:26
but there's an obvious tension between the glamorous queen
01:29
and her industrial surroundings.
01:31
CAMILLE: I was born in Kingston, Jamaica,
01:34
and I was nine years old when I came to Canada
01:36
and then we moved to Hamilton,
01:39
and we lived there until I left in my early twenties.
01:45
NARRATOR: Her early art included works in textiles,
01:48
multimedia and performance.
01:50
In fact, Turner is considered
01:52
one of Canada's first black performance artists.
01:55
So what is Performance Art?
01:57
Performance Art is a type of artwork
01:59
created through actions
02:01
performed by the artist or other participants.
02:04
Canadian Performance Art emerged in the 1970s.
02:08
Some of the country's most famous Performance artists
02:11
include Rebecca Belmore, Suzy Lake,
02:14
and Cassils.
02:17
By centering her own body in her art,
02:20
Turner uses performance to confront how blackness
02:22
is perceived in Canada.
02:24
Miss Canadiana was a persona created to do just that.
02:28
The idea came to her in 1998,
02:31
after an experience at a shopping mall
02:33
in North Bay, Ontario.
02:36
She made a quick pit stop to pick up some supplies
02:38
before a camping trip.
02:40
While she wasn't dressed differently
02:42
or acting strangely,
02:44
the other shoppers openly stared
02:45
because of the colour of her skin.
02:48
CAMILLE: But what it felt like
02:49
was just being surrounded by people
02:52
who were clearly othering me. (laughs)
02:55
You know, just this feeling of being something else,
03:00
not even someone else.
03:02
NARRATOR: Turner made her debut performance
03:04
as the charming Miss Canadiana
03:06
on Parliament Hill, Canada day, 2002.
03:10
She simply showed up,
03:12
uninvited, and people flocked to her.
03:15
She since appeared in cities across Canada,
03:17
and countries around the world.
03:20
Always in character,
03:21
she carries out the duties typical of a beauty queen.
03:24
Posing for pictures,
03:26
handing out flags,
03:27
shaking hands,
03:29
signing autographs.
03:30
And of course, attending ceremonies and festivals.
03:34
She once even led a walking tour of Toronto,
03:37
highlighting landmarks
03:38
of the city's hidden black histories and slavery in Canada.
03:43
Sometimes she's invited to perform
03:45
and sometimes she just pops up.
03:47
Whether some recognize it as Performance Art,
03:50
or mistake her for a real pageant queen,
03:52
hundreds have collected an autograph
03:54
from Miss Canadiana or posed for a snapshot.
03:58
The performance delightfully blurs the line
04:00
between fantasy and reality.
04:03
Hometown Queen is a composite made from two parts.
04:07
The background photo taken on location,
04:09
outside a steel mill,
04:11
and a portrait of the artist
04:13
taken at her studio.
04:15
Turner then combined the images.
04:17
Miss Canadiana appears in full colour,
04:20
popping out against the monochromatic background.
04:23
The sense of contrast is heightened
04:25
by the mismatch subjects,
04:27
the beauty queen against heavy industry.
04:31
It makes you ask,
04:32
what is Miss Canadiana doing here?
04:34
How does she fit into this space?
04:37
SUNITA: The photo still thinks,
04:39
I'm going to include myself into an environment
04:43
that is not necessarily conducive
04:45
for a beauty queen.
04:46
DERRON: Because she's black,
04:48
she's trying to send a message,
04:50
and the message is,
04:51
this is the way she sees herself
04:53
as this vibrant, colourful person.
04:56
But the world behind her is not as accepting.
05:00
It's very black and white and more dark.
05:03
HEIDI: The contrast of the background photo
05:08
it's very industrial,
05:09
and I would expect her to be in, you know,
05:12
a glamorous setting on a stage,
05:14
or maybe at a fancy hotel or something like that.
05:17
NARRATOR: Hometown Queen is one of six photographs
05:19
from a series that pictures Miss Canadiana
05:22
playfully pose in front of locations around Hamilton,
05:25
that are significant to Turner.
05:28
The factory for instance,
05:30
represents the local steel industry
05:32
where her father worked as a boiler maker.
05:35
Another photo shows the view of the city,
05:37
the artist remembers from the day
05:39
she first arrived in Hamilton.
05:42
The sepia tone, connotes memory and nostalgia.
05:45
After traveling widely as Miss Canadiana,
05:48
Turner brings the character back to her own hometown.
05:51
And there,
05:52
the artist faces some complicated feelings
05:54
about the place where she was raised.
05:56
CAMILLE: For me, you know,
05:58
as a very, very shy black child growing up in Hamilton,
06:03
it was not an easy place at all.
06:06
NARRATOR: Ultimately,
06:07
Hometown Queen is a photo about belonging
06:09
and the search for a sense of home.
06:12
By using the persona of a beauty queen,
06:14
every Miss Canadiana performance
06:16
challenges our ideals of both beauty and nationality.
06:20
Who gets to represent these things, and who gets left out?
06:24
It's important to recognize that the characters title
06:26
is not Miss Canada,
06:28
It's Miss Canadiana.
06:30
This tiny distinction signifies
06:32
that Turner is addressing the symbols,
06:34
cliches and stereotypes associated with the country.
06:38
And it is precisely our national myth
06:41
that Miss Canadiana seeks to disrupt.
06:44
By claiming to represent the nation,
06:46
she calls attention to the absence of blackness
06:48
from the usual notions of Canadian identity.
06:52
Miss Canadiana asks you to confront your assumptions.
06:56
What should a Canadian beauty queen look like?
06:58
If not like Turner?
07:00
Why not?
07:01
SUNITA: I think as a black woman living in the west,
07:05
white women's beauty is the standard.
07:08
DERRON: Canada is deemed like a multicultural country,
07:12
and it is multicultural,
07:14
but there's still a lot of racism.
07:16
And the racism isn't very obvious.
07:19
NARRATOR: Multiculturalism has been a defining principle
07:22
of Canada for a long time.
07:24
But a 2020 poll found that nearly a third of all Canadians
07:28
say they've personally experienced racism
07:31
in the past year.
07:33
Is Canada really the inclusive place it says it is?
07:36
Or is multiculturalism more of a branding image
07:39
than a core value?
07:42
The question, "who is made to feel they belong here?"
07:45
is as relevant as ever.
07:47
So Miss Canadiana's message feels urgent.
07:51
Turner has said that when she walks down the street,
07:53
it's different than when Miss Canadiana does it.
07:56
In costume, people just treat her differently.
07:58
CAMILLE: Identity absolutely is a performance.
08:02
And we're constructing ourselves all the time.
08:06
NARRATOR: The artist wants you
08:08
to see that identity is something you put on,
08:11
just like Miss Canadiana's silky sash
08:13
and shimmery Tiara.
08:15
Join us as we decode Canadian art,
08:18
and understand why looking at art matters.
08:22
(gentle music)

Who gets to be Canadian? Camille Turner turns the question into a performance. Get to know this piece better at TVO Arts.

Camille Turner – Hometown Queen

Hometown Queen

This is Camille Turner’s Hometown Queen. Created in 2010, it's part of a larger series of photographs also titled Hometown Queen.

Hometown Queen

Camille Turner

What do you see first?

Keep learning on TVO.org

Sook-Yin Lee: The Limits of Art and Speech

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The Fight to End Anti-Black Racism

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Hometown QueenHometown Queen

Camille Turner

What do you see first?

Keep learning on TVO.org

Sook-Yin Lee: The Limits of Art and Speech

A Monumental Voice for Indigenous Art

The Fight to End Anti-Black Racism

What it’s like to be Black in Kingston

Hometown Queen