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Early Days: Indigenous Art From The McMichael

Authors: Bonnie Devine and Sarah Milroy
Hardcover, 400 Pages
Figure 1 Publishing, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2023

Purchase copy here.

A landmark publication bringing together more than seventy voices illuminating the rich array of Indigenous art held by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Fox Tail Moccasins. Excerpt of essay by Barry Ace

“Beginning soon after initial contact and continuing well into the nineteenth century, settlers made numerous forays and expeditions into the interior of the Americas, seeking to encounter Indigenous peoples on the verge of culture change. By the mid-nineteenth century, Europeans and Americans were certainly aware of the impact of colonization on tribal societies because of the longstanding economic trade relations, military alliances and resistance, religious indoctrination, and territorial displacement. Yet, despite steadfast settler beliefs in the natural law of cause and effect, deeply rooted Judeo-Christian ethics, and internalized perceptions of superiority, there was also an innate desire to document those who they believed constituted the vanishing. The collection and classification of disparate ephemeral aspects of the Other provided settlers with an opportunity to redefine and reframe Indigenous peoples of the Americas into a manageable and marketable historical construct as causalities of modernity.” (pages 228 – 231).

Featured contributors: Barry Ace, Leland Bell, Dempsey Bob, Christian Chapman, Violet Chum, Hannah Claus, Dana Claxton, Jisgang Nika Collison, Alan Corbiere, Marcia Crosby, Ruth Cuthand, Mique’l Dangeli, Joe David, Sarah Davidson, Robert Davidson, Bonnie Devine, Tarralik Duffy, Norma Dunning, David Garneau, John Geoghegan, Janice Grey, Haay’uups (Ron Hamilton), Jim Hart, Emma Hassencahl-Perley, Emily Henderson, Lynn A. Hill, Richard Hill, Maria Hupfield, Jaimie Isaac, Heather Igoliorte, Luis Jacob, Gayle Kabloona, William Kingfisher, Jessica Kotierk, Robin Laurence, Duane Linklater, Ange Loft, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Jean Marshal, Michael Massie, Gerald McMaster, Ossie Michelin, Sarah Milroy, Antoine Mountain, Nadia Myre, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Ruth Phillips, Jocelyn Piirainen, Ryan Rice, Carmen Robertson, Paul Seesequasis, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Wedlidi Speck, Clyde Tallio, Drew Hayden Taylor, Nakkita Trimble-Wilson, Jesse Tungilik, Camille Georgeson Usher, William Wasden Jr., Jordan Wilson, Jessica Winters.

REVIEWS

gallerieswest: Books Issue. Early Days. The McMichael no longer gathers totem poles by stealth