Representing settler colonialism visually: Julie-Ann Mercer, Views of Hudson’s Bay (1825) and Peter Rindisbacher: Constructions of Indigenous and non- Indigenous Culture in the Red River Settlement, MA Dissertation, University of Alberta, 2017 | settler colonial studies blog

Representing settler colonialism visually: Julie-Ann Mercer, Views of Hudson’s Bay (1825) and Peter Rindisbacher: Constructions of Indigenous and non- Indigenous Culture in the Red River Settlement, MA Dissertation, University of Alberta, 2017

22Sep17

Abstract: Within the Views in Hudson’s Bay (1825) print series are six hand-tinted lithographs depicting indigenous and non-indigenous culture in the Red River Settlement. The images engage with visual language from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century print series and travel books that construct North American national identity in connection to indigeneity. The lithographs are similar to watercolours by Peter Rindisbacher, a nineteenth-century settler-colonial artist who lived in the Red River Settlement from 1821 to 1826. Both the lithographs and the watercolours are social and cultural products of colonialism; the images convey narratives about colonialist and settler-colonialist perceptions of race and land ownership. The Views in Hudson’s Bay are simplified variations of Rindisbacher’s imagery; they construct narratives about British control in the Red River Settlement, whereas Rindisbacher’s watercolours interpret distinct individuals from the Red River Settlement and their attributes. Through a comparative analysis of the Views in Hudson’s Bay with Rindibacher’s watercolours, I study how the imagery complexly negotiates colonialist ideology.

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