Rosalie Favell facts for kids

Rosalie Favell RCA was born in 1958. She is a talented Métis artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Today, she lives in Ottawa, Ontario. Rosalie Favell creates art using photography and digital collage.

She often makes self-portraits, which are pictures of herself. Sometimes she uses her own image. Other times, she uses pictures that represent her. She also uses old family photos and images from pop culture in her art.

About Rosalie Favell's Early Life

Rosalie Favell was born in 1958. Her father, Gerald, was Métis. Her mother, Florence McFadyen, had Scottish and English family. Rosalie grew up in an Anglican home. Her family's Indigenous background was not often talked about.

She received her first camera when she was ten years old. Later, she took a night photography class. This class made her want to learn even more about photography.

Rosalie Favell's Education and Teaching

Rosalie Favell studied art at several universities. She earned a bachelor's degree from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in 1984. In 1998, she received a master's degree from the University of New Mexico. She also started a PhD program at Carleton University in 2009.

In the late 1990s, Rosalie started changing her art style. She moved from documentary photography to digital photo art. She learned new techniques from another artist, Larry Glawson.

Rosalie Favell has taught many art classes and workshops. She taught at the University of Manitoba and the Institute of American Indian Art Santa-Fe. She also taught at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. Since 2013, she has taught digital photography at Discovery University. This program helps people with low incomes get educational chances.

She has also been an artist-in-residence at places like the Banff Centre. At OCAD University, she created a project called Facing the Camera. This project, which started in 2008, features portraits of Indigenous artists.

Rosalie Favell's Community Involvement

Rosalie Favell was an early member of NIIPA. This stands for the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association. It was the first art center in Canada for Indigenous photo artists. It was located in Hamilton.

She also served on the board of the Floating Gallery Centre for Photography in Winnipeg. She was also part of the Original Women's Network. This group is a resource center for Native women. Rosalie Favell has also worked with women's groups in Katmandu, Nepal.

Exploring Themes in Rosalie Favell's Art

A main theme in Rosalie Favell's art is self-portraiture. This means she often creates pictures of herself. She uses traditional ways of making portraits. Sometimes, she even takes famous old portraits and puts her own image in them.

For example, her work The Artist in Her Museum: The Collector (2005) is inspired by a painting by Charles Wilson Peale. In her version, Rosalie replaces the original collector with herself. She also replaces the collection of objects with her own family photos. By doing this, she questions old ideas about collecting and showing art. She adds her own Indigenous identity to create new conversations.

Artist and writer Barry Ace describes her work well. He says her collected images help bring back personal and group memories. Her digital photo art gives her a big space to show her feelings about herself, her family, her identity, and who she is.

Documenting Indigenous Communities

Favell has also used documentary photography. She creates images that show the Indigenous community she is part of. Her work Portraits in Blood (1980s) uses photos of Indigenous artists and friends. These photos help her explore her own Indigenous identity.

Her ongoing series, Facing the Camera, started in 2008. It includes dynamic photos of about 450 Indigenous artists from all over the world. Some of these artists include Daphne Odjig, Greg Hill, and Kent Monkman. The active poses in these photos give power to the people in them. They also challenge old stereotypes about Indigenous people.

Awards and Recognition

Rosalie Favell has received many awards and grants for her art. In 2012, she won the Karsh Award for her photography. She also received the Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Arts Fellowship in 2004. In 2003, she won the Canada Council for the Arts Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award. In 2017, she was given The Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Art Photography.

Rosalie Favell's Artworks

Exhibited and Collected Works

Rosalie Favell's art has been shown in many important places. Her work is part of collections at the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. It is also at Library and Archives Canada and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

An exhibition called Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal Artists featured her work. This show challenged old, stereotypical images of Indigenous people. Her portraits were shown alongside other Indigenous artists like KC Adams and Kent Monkman.

Group Exhibitions

• 2013: Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal Artists, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
• 2019: Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN

Selected Artworks

• 1994 Living Evidence
• 1980s Portraits in Blood
• 1998 Longing and Not Belonging
• 2005 The Artist in Her Museum: The Collector
• 1999-2006 Plain(s) Warrior Artist
• 2010 Wish You Were Here
• 2008-ongoing Facing the Camera

Collaborative Art Projects

In 2017, Rosalie Favell led a project called Wrapped in Culture. This project brought together Indigenous artists from Canada and Australia. The Canadian artists included Rosalie Favell, Barry Ace, Meryl McMaster, and Adrian Stimson. The Australian artists included Maree Clarke and Vicki West.

The ten artists worked together to create a traditional Blackfoot buffalo robe and an Australian Aboriginal possum skin cloak. They painted and carved designs onto the robes. This project was a way to tell stories, reclaim culture, and build community.

Rosalie Favell is also part of the OO7 (Ottawa Ontario Seven) Collective. This is a group of Indigenous artists in Ottawa. The group includes artists like Ariel Smith and Barry Ace. They create an open space for Indigenous artists to experiment with their art.