ARTIST BIO

Troy Paul is Maliseet and has spent the last ten years, as he puts it, "Doin' it" as a photographer. Troy was raised in Toronto, where lucky for us, after pursuing a degree in law enforcement he decided to put down his gun and start shooting with a camera.

In 1996, he landed a job as a photographer for the publication, "ABORIGINAL VOICES" which sent him to New York to shoot images for a 1999 issue. Liking what New York had to offer for a photographer, he came back on a vacation and decided that he was determined to live and work in New York. Finally moving here in 2000, he met Diane Fraher, Director of American Indian Artists, Inc. (AMERINDA). Soon after, he was hired to shoot AMERINDA’s "First Peoples" Pow Wow. In that same year he met Jim Cyrus, Director of the Performing Arts Department at the American Indian Community House Inc. and he started taking headshots for aspiring actors from the Native community. This work was reflective of some of the finest aspects of Troy’s work - his portraits.

The late photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of photojournalism, was asked by an interviewer what made his photographs so extraordinary. The interviewer sat anxiously awaiting Cartier-Bresson’s answer expecting some very complicated and highly technical explanation. After a few moments had passed, Cartier-Bresson calmly responded with "the eye must see what the heart feels" Troy Paul's portraits reveal the generous heart of a photographer, who is possessed of a blameless eye, all the while revealing his subjects. Mr. Paul has begun work on a long held dream to photograph Native Canadian and American Veterans of WW II. This project, from his aboriginal heart, driven by time-honored traditional Native values to honor the veterans as protectors of the people and cherish the elders, who are the carriers of the ancient wisdom, will let us see these treasured souls through loving eyes before they leave us.

Always having fervor for fashion though, most of his commercial work has been fashion photography. Now living here for five years, Troy has gained experience as a New York City photographer but that doesn't deter him from working in Canada. As a citizen of an aboriginal Nation, he can pass freely over the border and work in both countries. Troy has also worked for magazines outside of the U.S. like Cosmopolitan (Germany), Allure (Australia), and Moxy Femme (Canada).

Website:

www.troypaul.com