MY TREATY IS WITH THE CROWN
Courtesy Bailey Fine Arts, Toronto.
March 4 – April 16, 2011
Organized by Michèle Thériault and produced by the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
A project by Kent Monkman
With the collaboration of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the McCord Museum of Canadian History
Exhibition Opening and Tour of The Exhibition With The Artist
Thursday March 3, 4:30 pm
Kent Monkman and Miss Chief Eagle Testickle return to Montreal to occupy the Ellen Art Gallery. Their project transforms the gallery into a camp of military tents in which the new “Canada” that emerges in the decisive battle of the Plains of Abraham between the British and the French armies (General Wolfe and Montcalm) is invaded by the presence of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Monkman’s alter ego.
The exhibition brings together new paintings and objects (Miss Chief’s personal collection), and a new video by Monkman presented alongside a selection of 19th century European, North American and aboriginal artifacts and paintings borrowed from the collections of the McCord Museum and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Hair as a symbol of power and its removal, as an act of humiliation and domination, is the thematic thread that runs through the environment created by the artist. Referencing two biblical allegories – Mary Magdalene washing Christ’s feet and Delilah’s betrayal of Samson – and linking them to the French battle with the English Crown and the Prince of Wales’s visit to Montreal in 1860, Miss Chief addresses the relationship of betrayal and entreatment aboriginals have had with European colonizers.
Monkman revisits North American historical events and cultural representations proposing alternative narratives and possibilities that mine the discourse of civilization and the ethos of foundational myths. He derails the white colonial discourse by turning it on its head – it is now Miss Chief, the sexy and extravagant diva warrior, representative of the red race, who is ravishing the European male – through a camp esthetic that places sexuality and desire at the center of his critical project.
Kent Monkman is represented by: Bailey Fine Arts, Toronto; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London; Trépanier Baer Gallery, Calgary; Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain, Montréal; Galerie Florent Tosin, Berlin.
Kent Monkman wishes to thank the Ontario Arts Council for its support.
The Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery’s contemporary exhibition program is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.