Awards

• Nominated for SOLS First Nations Communities READ 2021 (Canada)
• Short-listed for Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award / Prix Littéraire Carol-Shields De La Ville De Winnipeg 2020 (Canada)
• Short-listed for Eileen Mctavish Sykes Award for First Book 2020 (Canada)
• Short-listed for McNally Robinson Book of the Year 2020 (Canada)

Overview

Tired of reading negative and disparaging remarks directed at Indigenous people of Winnipeg in the press and social media, artist KC Adams created a photo series that presented another perspective. Called “Perception Photo Series,” it confronted common stereotypes of First Nation, Inuit and Métis people to illustrate a more contemporary truthful story. First appearing on billboards, in storefronts, in bus shelters, and projected onto Winnipeg’s downtown buildings, Adams’s stunning photographs now appear in the book, Perception: A Photo Series.  Meant to challenge the culture of apathy and willful ignorance about Indigenous issues, Adams hopes to unite readers in the fight against prejudice of all kinds. Perception is one title in The Debwe Series.

Full Product Details

9781553797869

Table of Contents

Reviews

Indeed, the potential lasting impact of this collection can't be underestimated; this is socially engaged art at its best.-- Kirkus Reviews Perception is an impressive collection...an inside look into a living legend's photography practice (I say this in no uncertain terms) and, more importantly, as Adams intended, a reminder to look past the hurt in search of a love that can bring us all home.--Lindsay Nixon, editor-at-large for Canadian Art, award-winning author of nitisanak KC Adams's Perception series absolutely captured the most devastating perceptions from the colonial mind, and the accompanying lack of knowledge about the truth of Canada's historical relationship to Indigenous Peoples. Succinctly and beautifully, KC transformed that narrative in this series. It is a prolific piece which will always be a source of inspiration for truth and reconciliation. It is unforgettable. Kichi miigwetch KC Adams!--Tina Keeper, award-winning actor/producer KC Adams' Perception series challenges us to bridge thought and reality; emerging on the other side better having challenged ourselves to see Indigenous peoples for what they really are. We are grandparents, parents, children - and everything in between. As Adams shows through this incredible exhibition of faces and feelings, we are beautiful, whole, and complex peoples irreducible to stereotypes and slander.--Romeo Saganash, MP for Quebec (2011-2019), lawyer

This is a fantastic book and a real conversation starter. K.C. Adams explores stereotypes of First Nations, Inuit and M tis people through portrait photography. What started off as a social media and poster project at bus stops has now been turned into a book as she photographs people with assumptions that have been made about them written next to the photo before showing the real person and who they really are. It's a very simple but overwhelming creative and effective idea. It's made me reflect what assumptions I might hold about certain groups of people and how accurate they are. I really appreciated that this is also not just a book of photographs but also informs the reader how the project got created and why it is so important and what art can do. One person who sat for photos also talked about the experience which is something photography books often don't include but really adds to the photos. I hadn't heard of Adams before but shall definitely be looking up more of work. Thank you very much to Net Galley and HighWater Press for providing me with an ARC in return for a honest review.-- (02/12/2019) Perception is an interesting collection of photography and essay-like writings. I'll definitely recommend this one to our library patrons.-- (02/11/2019) I admire what KC Adams did when she kept hearing disparaging remarks and slurs against the Native peoples of Canada. As an indigenous person herself, she too, had been subjected to mistreatment and prejudice just be being someone who looks different. She was determined to find a way to get people's perceptions to change. The Native/indigenous people and their cultures were here to stay and non-Native people had to come to terms with and accept that. Adams choose to use her skill as a photographer as a catalyst to address the racism and prejudice head on. She took a series of two photographs of the same person; one as she said a racist remark, the other as she said something positive about the person. She then put up these pictures as posters around municipal areas. The first picture was headlined with the slur said while filming it, the bottom said Think again. The second picture (taken when she invoked a positive response in them) told who they were and some things about them. This photography series (now captured in her book Perceptions) helped people recognize their own reactions to Native peoples and realize that they were unfair and untrue. I love when art is not only creative, but an agent for social change! Kudos, Ms. Adams! Well done! Many thanks to NetGalley and High Water Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own. -- (02/07/2019)

Author Information

KC Adams (Ininnew/Anishinaabe/British) is a registered Fisher River Cree Nation member living in Winnipeg. KC is a relational maker, educator, activist, and mentor who creates work that explores technology in relation to her Indigenous culture. Adams is an award-winning, nationally and internationally known maker with a B.F.A. from Concordia University and an M.A. in Cultural Studies, Curatorial Stream from the University of Winnipeg. KC has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, residencies and three biennales. katherena vermette (she/her/hers) is a Red River Métis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2013, her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses’ Company) won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. Since then, her work has garnered awards and critical accolades across genres. Her novels The Break (House of Anansi) and The Strangers (Hamish Hamilton) were both national best sellers and won multiple literary awards. She is the author of numerous other bestselling titles, including the A Girl Called Echo series (HighWater Press) and the Seven Teachings Stories series (HighWater Press).

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