Kent Monkman
Indigenous Subversion of Colonial Art
Kent Monkman (b. 1965) is an Indigenous Canadian artist of Cree ancestry. His exploration of the themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience creates a new perspective on the complexities of historical and modern Indigenous life. The majority of his works include his gender-fluid alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, a play on the words “mischief” and “Egotistical.” Monkman portrays Miss Chief as two-spirit, a person who possesses both a male and female spirit. This representation is used by Indigenous people to describe their gender and spiritual identity. As Monkman states:
I created Miss Chief Eagle Testickle to offer an Indigenous perspective on the European settlers and to also present a very empowered point of view of Indigenous sexuality pre-contact.
This shape-shifting, time-traveling, and supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to confront received beliefs of history and Indigenous peoples.
Monkman’s art confronts colonized sexuality and social class, giving viewers profound insight into the representation of Native people. His reconfigurations of history painting subvert the Western perception of Indigenous people and address colonial settlers’ assimilation and appropriation of the Indigenous lifestyle. Painting in a hyperrealistic style reminiscent of the Old Masters he uses precise and detailed brushstrokes, especially in expressing emotions and facial expressions.
Monkman’s showcase of Indigenous resilience juxtaposed with the atrocities of European colonialism gives a different perspective of Indigenous struggle in art history. The themes of colonization and resilience best present themselves in Monkman’s 2019 exhibition, mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People), with the magnificent and highly detailed diptych, Welcoming the Newcomers and Resurgence of the People.
Monkman placed indigenous people in place of white males, challenging the traditional European style of history painting. Welcoming the Newcomers is a remodeled version of the European arrival to the “New World.” The Indigenous residents are welcoming toward the invaders, not knowing they were bringing along infectious diseases and new religions, and eventually a rapacious land grab that resulted in the deaths of millions of native people.
Resurgence of the People commemorates indigenous strength against the onslaught of European colonization and slavery.
These works are a contemporary reinterpretation of Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware.
The focal point of both canvases is Monkman’s alter ego, as he wanted “Miss Chief to be the hero of my two paintings,” mirroring the way George Washington was Leutze’s . His goal with the incorporation of Miss Chief was to “make a monumental painting that really reflected on indigenous perspective to give it that same importance.” This was brilliantly achieved by dramatically placing Miss Chief in Washington’s position, symbolically erasing a celebrated slaveholder with an empowering indigenous figure.
Monkman masterfully pays homage to the resiliency of the indigenous community while also alluding to Washington’s role in exploiting Native and African people. This representation of indigenous people has never been seen before in art history, giving a new outlook on colonization and sexuality in art.
