My Treaty Is With the Crown
Kent Monkman and Miss Chief Eagle Testickle return to Montreal to occupy Concordia’s Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery. Their project, My Treaty Is With the Crown, transforms the gallery into a camp of military tents in which the new Canada that emerges in the decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham between the British and the French armies (Generals 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.
The theme that runs through the environment created by the artist is hair, as a symbol of power, and its removal, as an act of humiliation and domination. Citing 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 complex relationship 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 aesthetic that places sexuality and desire at the centre of his critical project.
Kent Monkman is an artist of Cree ancestry who works in a variety of media including painting, film/video, performance and installation. Monkman has exhibited widely within Canada, and is represented in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
My Treaty is with the Crown runs from March 4 to April 16. The Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. It is on the ground floor of the J. W. McConnell Library Building (1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.). For general information, call 514-848-2424, ext. 4750. For events and tours, please contact Marina Polosa at 514-848-2424, ext. 4778, or mpolosa@alcor.concordia.ca. Admission is free. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.
Related links:
• Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
• Kent Monkman