onfocus

In learning more about Victoria, I stumbled across pioneer Hannah Maynard. She was a photographer in early Victoria (late 1800's) doing the normal work of portraits and police file photos. But she also took her photographs of children and combined them into elaborate collages she called "Gems of British Columbia". They're disturbing (though I'm sure that has to do with the passage of time more than anything). Take a look at some in the BC Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And here's a surreal self-portrait she made using a similar montage technique. The artist in her home (1890).