Abstract
Indigenous artists are introducing traditional knowledge practices to the contemporary art world. This article discusses the work of selected Indigenous artists and relays their contribution towards changing art discourses and understandings of Indigenous knowledge. Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau led the way by introducing ancient mythos; the gifted Carl Beam enlarged his oeuvre with ancient building practices; Peter Clair connected traditional Mi'kmaq craft and colonial influence in contemporary basketry; and Edward Poitras brought to life the cultural hero Coyote. More recently, Beau Dick has surprised international art audiences with his masks; Christi Belcourt’s studies of medicinal plants take on new meaning in paintings; Bonnie Devine creates stories around canoes and baskets; Adrian Stimson performs the trickster/ruse myth in the guise of a two-spirited character; and Lisa Myers’s work with the communal sharing of food typifies a younger generation of artists re-engaging with traditional knowledge.
Works Cited
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©2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Articles
- Indigenous Knowledges in North America: An Introduction
- Contemporary Art Practice and Indigenous Knowledge
- Marianne Nicolson’s Land-Based Knowledgescape Cliff Painting
- Invocations of Indigeneity in the Colonial Red/White/Black Triad
- First Nations Healing: From Traditional Medicine to Experimental Ethnopharmacology
- Profit and Loss: ‘Indian’ Art at Sherman Institute, a Native American Off-Reservation Boarding School
- The ‘Fast Runner’ Trilogy, Inuit Cultural Memory, and Knowledge (Re-)Production
- Unusual Alliances of Knowledge Production: A Reading of Disney’s Frozen 2
- Book Reviews
- Herman Melville
- Melville’s Mirrors: Literary Criticism and America’s Most Elusive Author
- The Kitchen and the Factory: Spaces of Women’s Work and the Negotiation of Social Difference in Antebellum American Literature
- Books Received
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Articles
- Indigenous Knowledges in North America: An Introduction
- Contemporary Art Practice and Indigenous Knowledge
- Marianne Nicolson’s Land-Based Knowledgescape Cliff Painting
- Invocations of Indigeneity in the Colonial Red/White/Black Triad
- First Nations Healing: From Traditional Medicine to Experimental Ethnopharmacology
- Profit and Loss: ‘Indian’ Art at Sherman Institute, a Native American Off-Reservation Boarding School
- The ‘Fast Runner’ Trilogy, Inuit Cultural Memory, and Knowledge (Re-)Production
- Unusual Alliances of Knowledge Production: A Reading of Disney’s Frozen 2
- Book Reviews
- Herman Melville
- Melville’s Mirrors: Literary Criticism and America’s Most Elusive Author
- The Kitchen and the Factory: Spaces of Women’s Work and the Negotiation of Social Difference in Antebellum American Literature
- Books Received