Indigena: Contemporary Native Perspectives

Patricia Morley is a professor of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University, an associate fellow of the Simone de Beauvoir
Institute, and author of Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

This collection of Native Canadian images and essays was created for the
Canadian Museum of Civilization’s exhibition Indigena to mark the
500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Eight writers
and 19 visual artists condemn past injustices and celebrate the culture
and achievements of their peoples. Editors McMaster (Plains Cree) and
Martin (Mohawk) contribute a long and hard-hitting introduction. They
see the last 500 years as a legacy “of religious, cultural, social,
economic and political intolerance that is still at every level of
modern society.”

The individual portfolios, each rich with photographs and reproductions
(some in color), convey a strong impression of diversity, originality,
and creativity. Carl Beam’s Burying the Ruler (1991), Joanne
Cardinal-Schubert’s Preservation of a Species: DECONSTRUCTIVISTS
(1990), Jim Logan’s National Pastimes (1991), and Lawrence Paul’s
Red Man Watching White Man Trying to Fix Hole in Sky (1990) are among
the images that are likely to remain in the memory of any viewer. The
portfolio format includes a short biography and exhibition record for
each artist.

Readers whose knowledge of indigenous art begins and ends with Norval
Morrisseau will find that a new generation of artists has forced a
brilliant flowering.