Lori Blondeau, (b. 1964)
The Lonely Surfer Squaw, 1997
Ink print
On loan from the artist

Cree/Saulteaux/Métis artist Lori Blondeau poses in a fur bikini with a Styrofoam surfboard. Inspired by surfing movies of the 1960s and 70s she watched as a child, Blondeau reinvents herself as the lonely surfer squaw. Taking on the dominant aesthetics of mainstream media culture, Blondeau appropriates and transforms the pin-up girl trope. Often using humor to address challenging subject matter, she reclaims the word “squaw”—an epithet used against her as a child.