Tom Jones

Tom Jones (Ho-Chunk, b. 1964)

Cultural Appropriations, Study #11, 2019

Archival Pigment Print

15 × 12.5 inch image on 16 × 14 inch paper

Signed edition of 30

Tom Jones is an interdisciplinary artist who makes work regarding how Native people are portrayed in popular culture and historical narratives. For this body of work, Studies in Cultural Appropriation, Jones applies different beaded designs over the man’s suit in the vintage image and re-photographs the work. By alternating different patterns over the clothing, Jones speaks to cultural appropriation of Native designs, especially in the fashion industry.

Tom Jones completed his BFA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and MFA and MA in Museum Studies at Columbia College Chicago. He has shown his work in several exhibitions including a retrospective at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in 2022. Jones’s works are in the collections at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC; the Chazen Museum of Art, WI; and Michigan State University Museum, among others. Jones is currently Professor of Photography at UW-Madison. He co-authored the book People of the Big Voice, Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879–1943. He is also the co-curator for the exhibition and contributing author to the book, For a Love of His People: The Photography of Horace Poolaw. Jones’s work was featured in the Refracting Histories exhibition at MoCP in 2022–2023.