Miss Chief Eagle Testickle in the R.O.M. Crystal

Miss Chief Eagle Testickle in the R.O.M. Crystal

Last evening I visited the new wing of the Royal Museum of Ontario for a performance by Winnipeg-born artist Kent Monkman. The event was part of the imagineNATIVE annual media festival, and it was f@#$ing brilliant. The performance was called a séance and consisted of Monkman lecturing on painting by summoning the spirits of 3 dead painters such as Eugene Delacroix and Paul Kane, with a 50 ft high projection of slides on the gallery wall. Monk did this as Miss Chief Eagle Testicle in 3 feathered headdresses with matching panties, bras and stilettos (inspired by Cher’s campy “Half-breed” performances no doubt). She came out onto the stage in the 4-story Crystal gallery three times, in grand puffs of smoke, first in a striking black headdress, and invoked the spirit of Eugene Delacroix, beckoning him to “…come talk to Miss Chief.”

What was especially exquisite about this performance (along with her regalia) was Miss Chief’s way of relating to the dead painters; she spoke about them/to them as not only a colleague (Monkman is a painter of revisited/revisioned colonial scenes), and a model for their paintings, but as a somewhat miffed and sarcastic critic, and as a First nations person. As we listened to the racist and ignorant comments taken from art history Miss Chief listened too, reacting with dramatic and hilarious facial gestures. The lectures consisted of taped recordings of actual quotes by the painters talking about their experiences painting the noble savage.

In his video, performance, photography and sculpture Monkman inserts his characters into history, engaging with the white patriarchy as a two-spirited First Nations person. Upstairs after the performance, I and a few children followed a man in a long dark grey coat with long dark grey hair playing two flutes at once to a show of works by 8 artists created for the festival. Monkman’s work was the star of this event as well; I especially liked the Louis Vuitton quiver and dreamcatcher bra.

Miss Chief ended the performance with a discussion with the essential and iconic Canadian colonial painter Paul Kane. Kane’s ‘spirit’ recounted the dance of the Berdache, who is a sacred clown or shaman who is an important part of many First Nations groups. The Berdache is usually a man who dresses as a woman. A feast is given regularly in his/her honour. Paul cane’s spirit thought the Berdache to be a pathetic creature and could not understand why the community seemed to revere her. Miss Chief ended the performance with her response to Cane and a dance to the Berdache. (It was hard for her to move however for the last costume she wore was a pink headdress so long that two half naked men had to support it at each end!)

Too see some of Monkman’s work:
http://www.pfoac.com/artists/km-english.htm
or google image Kent Monkman