A virtual tour of selected artworks from Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience by Kent Monkman with special guests from UBC’s Museum of Anthropology.
Shame and Prejudice takes you on a journey through the past 150 years of Canada. It is a journey that reclaims and reinserts Indigenous voices into the collective memory of our country, challenging and shattering colonial ideas of our history. The artist’s gender-fluid, time-travelling alter-ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, is the narrator of this story, told through the lens of Indigenous resilience.
Here’s one excerpt from the memoir of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, chapter 9:
“I try to bring hope, some laughter, a respite from the crushing weight of poverty and violence that keeps my people from seeing the sacred within themselves. I show them who they truly are, my beauty reflecting theirs, but only some have eyes to see. The others cannot see our magic, they try to tell us it is not there, but they do not understand the power of Miss Chief and they sorely underestimate the resilience of our people.” (read more excerpts here)
Vancouver is the final stop for this critically acclaimed travelling exhibition, which has been on a multi-year, cross-country tour to nine cities.
This pre-recorded tour is led by curator Dr. Jennifer Kramer and features 14 artworks from the exhibit, with supplementary descriptions by VocalEye for guests with sight loss.
VocalEye Almost Live Zoom events are free, but registration is required for first-time guests. Register for your VocalEye Zoom invitation by contacting info@vocaleye.ca or call 604-364-5949. Please let us know where you’re from and if you identify as a member of the blind/partially sighted community or as a sighted supporter.
The VocalEye virtual lobby opens at 6:30 pm Pacific Time for some pre-show mingling with host Amy Amantea. The pre-show introduction will begin at 6:45 pm with a descriptive overview. The tour begins at 7 pm led by curator Dr. Jennifer Kramer. Running time is approximately 90 minutes including a Q and A with gallery associates Issaku Inami and Marie Wustner. BC residents will be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Moose’s Down Under.
Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry who works with a variety of media, including painting, film/video, performance, and installation. His work is known for its provocative reinterpretations of Romantic North American landscapes, and it explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss and resilience—the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experience.
“Kent Monkman’s work must be seen.” –The Tyee
LINKS AND RESOURCES
Cree Artist Redraws History (New York Times article)
Jean-Paul Gauthier Married Kent Monkman to Apologize for Cultural Appropriation (Fashion article)
APTN Face to Face interview with Kent Monkman:
Kent Monkman reverses the colonial gaze with two monumental paintings commissioned for the Great Hall of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The artist discusses these works in this video:
