Indigenous art in the museum context: an exhibition and analysis of the work of Kent Monkman.

Abstract

"From October 3,2007 to February 14, 2009, Candice Hopkins and I co-curated an exhibition of Indigenous art entitled Shapeshifters, Time Travellers and Storytellers. Held at the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), the show included work by Canadian artist Kent Monkman and seven other contemporary artists, as well as a selection of historical artifacts from the ROM's collections. The genesis of the show grew from the curators' desire to engage in the ongoing debate around the collision between past and present that was to be so conspicuously manifested in the Daniel Libeskind-designed postmodernist extension to the ROM. It was a timely opportunity to exhibit some of the groundbreaking work coming from some of Canada's contemporary artists, particularly in the context of the museum, which maintains a traditional approach to Indigenous arts and cultures. As the inaugural ICC-generated exhibit in the newly opened ROM wing, the show was to comment on the multiple layers of the colonial relationship as it was reflected by the museum's history of isplaying and housing Indigenous art, and the relationship of contemporary Indigenous artists with the museum and its collections."--Page 1.