The exhibit takes the viewer on a journey through Canada’s history that starts in the present and takes us back to a hundred and fifty years before Confederation. It shows archival objects alongside new, canvases created by Monkman. It narrates a story of Canada through the lens of First Nations’ resilience.
“It was a pretty deliberate effort to have people reflect on the last 150 years in terms of the Indigenous experience, Canada’s 150 years old—what does that mean for the First People? When I thought about it, I thought it includes the worst period, because it goes all the way back to the signing of the treaties, the beginning of the reserve system, this legacy of incarceration, residential schools, sickness, the removal of children in the ’60s, missing and murdered women. “So there’s a lot of material in the show that tries to encompass and stitch together this narrative that reflects back on 150 years... “I can’t think about the Indigenous experience without being critical of colonial policies that were genocidal, There is no lighter version of that—it’s pretty clear that I have to speak directly to these issues.”- Kent Monkman
"CASH FOR SOULS" BY KENT MONKMAN
"DEATH OF THE VIRGIN ( AFTER CARAVAGGIO) BY KENT MONKMAN
"THE BEARS OF CONFEDERATION" BY KENT MONKMAN