Kent Monkman

Revision & Resistance reveals the story of Kent Monkman's monumental 2019 diptych commission mistik?siwak (Wooden Boat People) for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book celebrates Monkman's historic achievement with essays and contributions by today's most prominent voices on Indigenous art and Canadian painting.

Kent Monkman's new, large-scale project takes the viewer on a journey through Canada's history that starts in the present and takes us back to 150 years before Confederation. With its entry points in the harsh urban environment of Winnipeg's north end, and contemporary life on the reserve, Kent Monkman: Shame and Prejudice, A Story of Resilience takes us all the way back to the period of New France and the fur trade. The Rococo masterpiece The Swing by Jean-Honore ́ Fragonard has been reinterpreted as an installation with Monkman's alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, in a beaver trimmed baroque dress, swinging back and forth between the Generals Wolfe and Montcalm. The book includes Monkman's own paintings, drawings and sculptural works, in dialogue with historical artefacts and art works borrowed from museum and private collections from across Canada.

Kent Monkman's art has been described as "stupendous" (New York Times), "sure to alarm and educate" (The Observer), and beating "Western history painting at its own game" (The Globe and Mail). Subversive, bold, and groundbreaking, the work of this Cree artist has transformed contemporary Canadian visual culture. Monkman's art is included in major Canadian and international public institutions and he is the only artist in this country to be commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kent Monkman: Life & Work is the first comprehensive book about the celebrated Monkman (b.1965). It is the only publication to trace the arc of his career, from his early abstract paintings to his rise to fame creating works that re-visit and reinterpret historic paintings to offer a powerful commentary on Indigenous resistance, remembrance, and the re-thinking of history. Author Shirley Madill chronicles the origins of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle--Monkman's time-travelling, shape-shifting, gender-fluid alter ego, who features prominently in his work--and details his youth in Manitoba growing up as a member of the Fisher River First Nation, where he first became aware of profound social injustice. Madill explores Monkman's provocative interventions into Western European and American art history, and shows how he created a body of work that raises awareness of the critical issues facing Indigenous peoples by fiercely addressing North America's legacy of colonialism, while also critiquing Western art history. Kent Monkman: Life & Work is the definitive publication for anyone passionate about Indigenous issues, art in North America, and contemporary culture.

"Cree artist Kent Monkman sweeps through art history, creating a disrupted narrative of the clash between Europeans and First Nations. His revisionist history paintings take their cue from 19th century romanticized landscapes of mid-west America. The performances transform gallery spaces into multi-media Tipi camp extravaganzas. Abundantly illustrated. With five original essays."--BOOK JACKET.

The Four Continents is comprised of a series of paintings made between 2012 and 2016. In this series, Monkman takes as his point of departure Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's epic frescoes commissioned for a private residence in Würzburg, Germany. The centrepiece of the Tiepolo series represented a day in the life of the Greek god, Apollo, with the four continents allegorized in peripheral scenes. In Monkman's reinterpretation, each continent is personified by a Two-Spirit sovereign with Miss Chief playing the roles of Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. Tiepolo's allegory is updated to include architectural wonders and notable figures from history amidst chaotic crowds.

Launched by healthcare providers in January 2018, the #aHand2Hold campaign confronted the Quebec government's practice of separating children from their families during medical evacuation airlifts, which disproportionately affected remote and northern Indigenous communities. Pediatric emergency physician Samir Shaheen-Hussain's captivating narrative of this successful campaign, which garnered unprecedented public attention and media coverage, seeks to answer lingering questions about why such a cruel practice remained in place for so long. In doing so it serves as an indispensable case study of contemporary medical colonialism in Quebec. Fighting for a Hand to Hold exposes the medical establishment's role in the displacement, colonization, and genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Through meticulously gathered government documentation, historical scholarship, media reports, public inquiries, and personal testimonies, Shaheen-Hussain connects the draconian medevac practice with often-disregarded crimes and medical violence inflicted specifically on Indigenous children. This devastating history and ongoing medical colonialism prevent Indigenous communities from attaining internationally recognized measures of health and social well-being because of the pervasive, systemic anti-Indigenous racism that persists in the Canadian public health care system - and in settler society at large. Shaheen-Hussain's unique perspective combines his experience as a frontline pediatrician with his long-standing involvement in anti-authoritarian social justice movements. Sparked by the indifference and callousness of those in power, this book draws on the innovative work of Indigenous scholars and activists to conclude that a broader decolonization struggle calling for reparations, land reclamation, and self-determination for Indigenous peoples is critical to achieve reconciliation in Canada.

A trickster named Coyote rules her world, until a funny-looking stranger named Columbus changes her plans. Unimpressed by the wealth of moose, turtles, and beavers in Coyote's land, he'd rather figure out how to hunt human beings to sell back in Spain. Thomas King uses a bag of literary tricks to shatter the stereotypes surrounding Columbus's voyages. In doing so, he invites children to laugh with him at the crazy antics of Coyote, who unwittingly allows Columbus to engineer the downfall of his human friends. William Kent Monkman's vibrant illustrations perfectly complement this amusing story with a message.

Being Legendary presents a new--and never before published--body of work by the revered and internationally renowned Cree artist Kent Monkman, guided by an Indigenous worldview, historical narratives, and the artist's playful imagination. Known for his thought-provoking and groundbreaking paintings, in Being Legendary Monkman focuses on the cultural world's most urgent topic: What does the museum mean in the twenty-first century? Since time immemorial, Indigenous knowledge has been deeply embedded in the land, carried in stories, songs, and art. Yet not only has this history never been a focus of North America's greatest museum, it has been diminished by the forced interruptions of the colonial project on Turtle Island. In a landmark exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum, Monkman, through his art and his gender-fluid, shape-shifting alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, presents in the paintings and pages of Being Legendary a powerful counter-narrative to the conventional structures of colonial collecting institutions. By highlighting Indigenous systems of knowledge, Being Legendary upholds the continuity and transcendence of worldviews that existed for millennia before the creation of Western museums. It speaks to the interruption of Indigenous knowledge caused by colonial forces and challenges our institutions to consider a fresh way of thinking. Powerful, provocative, and inspiring, Being Legendary presents the knowledge carried by Indigenous leaders in the community who shine a light forward for future generations.