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.”
