[BRIEF NOTE] Miss Canadiana

[rfmcdonald]

This morning in my copy of The Globe and Mail, I read Guy Dixon's article "Beauty queen with an edge" on the front page of the Review section, regarding Miss Canadiana.

In Ottawa, she was a vision of loveliness at the Canada Day festivities proudly wearing her sash. In London, she drew such a crowd in Trafalgar Square that the police had to ask her to leave. Back in Canada, she showed up at a rally in Hamilton with such local dignitaries as MP Tony Valeri, and has toured Toronto's Chinatown, Little India and Church Street neighbourhoods.

Wherever she goes, Miss Canadiana exudes poise and optimism, forever handing out little Maple Leaf flags and looking resplendent in red.

"For me, I feel like she's another person," says Camille Turner, Miss Canadiana herself. "She's not cynical and jaded like I am. She's very sweet, and she really believes in people. She believes people are just wonderful!" she adds, laughing.

Turner's apparent split personality is due to the fact that Miss Canadiana is after all an act or, more precisely, an ongoing performance-art piece.

When not appearing as a figure of blithe national pride and beauty, the Toronto-based artist works in a variety of media, from textiles to digital arts. She struck on the idea of Miss Canadiana while walking through a mall in North Bay, Ont., a few years ago. Originally from Jamaica (she moved to Canada when she was 9), Turner noticed that people were staring at her. Tall and maybe more urbane than some in the mall, there was otherwise little to mark her as an outsider -- other than her black skin.

Receiving the stares immediately made her come up with the idea of Miss Canadiana. Turner then mulled the idea for a few years, trying to decide how to approach arts-funding agencies with what she admits is a somewhat difficult idea to describe.

Then, on Canada Day, 2002, she simply donned a red dress, sash and kitschy Canadian-themed hat (she now favours tiaras) and showed up in Ottawa in her new role.

Although the winner of a fictitious contest, Miss Canadiana nonetheless looks stunning with her braided hair falling lightly around her face, even if she lacks that pinched look and type-A personality of most beauty-pageant winners. If anything, it's that tiny flash of doubt that lies at the core of her performance: Why, despite her obvious appeal, is she still vaguely outside the standard-issue beauty-contestant mould? Is it because she's black? Is it because she seems older and more there than a typical teen queen? (Turner won't divulge her age, saying she wants to maintain at least some of the mystery of Miss Canadiana.)

I'll be looking for her around town, I think. I like quiet smart subversions of unspoken norms, and the subverters themselves.