Marcia Crosby

Marcia Crosby is a Canadian writer, art historian, and educator.

Background Maria Violet Crosby is of Tsimshian and Haida ancestry, originating from Metlakatla, Alaska, and Gisbutwaada (Killer Whale clan), and House of Gitlan. Born and raised in her maternal grandmother's territory, Marcia grew up on what is now Prince Rupert. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and English (1990), a Master of Arts, "Indian Art/Aboriginal Title" in Cultural History (1993), and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Art History, all from the University of British Columbia. Crosby's PhD dissertation is on, ‘self-identifying modern Indian artists.’ Shelley Niro, Faye HeavyShield and Eric Robertson are some of the artists referenced in her, "Nations in Urban Landscape" exhibition catalogue. Before the mid1960s, there was no sustained economic or/and institutional or private support from patrons (including collectors of contemporary aboriginal art), nor an established intellectual discourse to create value for ‘modern Indian’ art." Marcia Crosby is introduced in the exhibition excerpt as a writer, scholar, and PhD candidate, UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory). Crosby states, "I don’t think Speck and his work ‘slipped away’ so much as the genealogy of ‘modern art’ by Aboriginal artists cannot account for such qualities as their traditional, metaphysical referents, or their seemingly positivist focus on form." Instead of traditional subjects such as igloos and parka-clad hunters, Pootogook shows her audience everyday works, one made up of recognizable contemporary accouterments including snowmobiles, boats, soft drinks, and television sets. Crosby’s Feedback at the Contemporary Art Gallery included a focus on the formation of Aboriginal cultural production in urban spaces in Vancouver, B.C., for Native and non-Native publics. Crosby makes transparent her experiences at university and the importance of the trials and tribulations she faced. She writes:

The 'Imaginary Indian' is a fictionalization of past and present cultures by the west and Crosby elaborates on this throughout her essay. Crosby shapes an argument focused on the precautions about western historizing indigenous people as illusory and an inscribing in past cultures a need to be saved through colonization and civilization. During her four years at university, Crosby studied and researched individuals who supposedly presented positive images of native people including: Paul Kane, Emily Carr, and Bill Reid. Crosby points out that Carr paints the remaining traces of Indian culture such as totem poles and canoes. This artistic decision on Carr's behalf speaks to what Crosby interprets as an ambition to record others. In her text, Crosby questions this further by interrogating the subjects in Emily Carr's paintings. Crosby writes, "Carr paid a tribute to the Indians she 'loved'" but who were they?" "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian" argues Carr's paintings can be seen as a recording of relics or ethnographic depictions. Crosby states that when a culture is represented as going through fatal changes, the natural thing to do is salvage or save it.

Bill Reid is introduced in Crosby's text as a central figure in this revival of Indian art. Crosby introduces Bill Reid as a Haida artist who took part in the so-called renaissance of Northwest Coast Indian art. In her text, Crosby responds to this by commenting on political meaning behind his supposed autonomous art practice. Crosby writes, "Reid has actively supported the myth of the imminent death of the Indian, by identifying himself as hero and cultural saviour." Reid's work follows a rubric that promotes the dominant culture's assumption that is not only their obligation but their right to assume the responsibility of caring for a dying culture, that within the museum setting, becomes a homogeneous collection of Indian artifacts. Crosby writes, "The Indian was neatly contained within the institutional glass case, carefully locked away as a repository for the unthinkable or unspeakable parts of those who created it." Crosby does more than 'collect and display Indians as objects' as human specimens rather her writing speaks to a personal experience and personal connection with past and present cultures with a sensitivity that is supported by dedicating years to building upon an education. Included in Wendy Stewart, Audrey Huntley and Fay Blaney's The Implication of Restorative Justice for Aboriginal Women (2001) is a quotation by Marcia Crosby:

Publications "Vancouver Anthology: The Institutional Politics of Art", ed. Stan Douglas (Vancouver: Talon Books, 1991) "Indian Art/ Aboriginal Title", UBC Ciricle (Vancouver: 1994) "Construction of the Imaginary Indian." Janet Giltrow (Peterborough, Ontario: 2002) "Group of Seven in Western Canada", ed. Cathy Mastin (Calgary: Key Porter Books, 2002) "Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon", ed. Thom et al. (Ottawa: Douglas & McIntyre, 2006) "Ruins in Process: Vancouver Art in the Sixties", (Vancouver 2008) "Projections: The Paintings of Henry Speck, Udzi’stalis", Satellite Gallery (Vancouver: 2012)