Tom Jones

An assistant professor of photography at UW–Madison, Tom Jones’s work may be found in the National Museum of the American Indian and the Chazen Museum of Art. Jones’s Ho Chunk identity is central to his work as an artist. Keenly aware of photography’s role in shaping white culture’s perception of “Indian-ness,” he uses his own camera to offer a perspective from within the Ho Chunk community. His subjects include the lives of contemporary Ho Chunk, Indian imagery at tourist destinations in the Wisconsin Dells, and enthusiasts who strive to reenact Indian life during the 18th-century French fur trade era. Jones’s most recent work uses plastic toy Indians to create abstract images that address “ the tensions and multiplicity of identity referents currently at play in the context of our perceived “post-race” country.”