Jeff Thomas (photographer)

Jeff Thomas
Born1956 (age 6869)
AwardsGovernor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts

Jeff Thomas (born 1956) is an Onondaga Nation photographer, curator, and cultural theorist who works and lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Thomas is known for his photographic work that addresses and interrogates the place of First Nations people in contemporary Canadian society. Often, his works explore the disjuncture between depictions he sees of Indigenous people as relics of the past (for instance, in museums), and contemporary Indigenous life as he views it.

His work includes the "Indians on Tour" series began in 2000, in which stereotypical "Indian" figurines are posed against natural or urban landscapes, otherwise against historical monuments and contemporary culture, as Thomas' photographs document First Nations people. In his "Vanishing Race" series, he depicts encounters with stereotypical depictions of Indigeneity.

He is the father of Ehren "Bear Witness" Thomas of the musical group The Halluci Nation (formerly known as A Tribe Called Red.)