In a film on view as part of ‘True Stories’ at MAC VAL in Paris, the Canadian artist celebrates identities shunned by colonizers

Rokhaya Diallo

Artist Kent Monkman explores gender fluidity in First Nation communities

The filmed performance Group of Seven Inches (2004) marked a turning point in Canadian artist Kent Monkman’s work: It was the first time the character of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle appeared. Created by the artist as an alter ego, this figure both deconstructs gender norms and restores the dignity of those harmed by colonial violence in Canada. On his father’s side, Monkman is descended from the Cree Nation of Fisher River, a people that have been present in North America since long before the invasion of European colonizers. Monkman’s art draws on his family history, victims of dispossession, cultural cleansing, and forced Christianization, the effects of which have fed into the systemic racism still present in Canada.

The figure of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle defies this unjust order, as much in her name as in the way she expresses herself. A pun on the word ‘mischief,’ the name also references the traditional role of the chieftain, a political figure at the head of Indigenous communities in North America. It’s a role embedded in the collective imagination, particularly through caricatures in Westerns and other art forms that romanticize the colonial violence that swept across the continent. The addition of the word ‘Miss’ feminizes a character that is supposed to be masculine, accompanied by ‘Eagle Testickle’ a play on the word ‘egotistical.’ These combinations establish Miss Chief’s gender fluidity, which acts as a homage to people stigmatized by the white gaze.&nbsp;
Before colonization, some people in the First Nations were considered ‘two spirit,’&nbsp; that is, not associated with a single gender, masculine or feminine. In several North American communities, non-binarity and gender or sexual fluidity were seen as valid expressions of identity. It was the colonial gaze that exoticized them, making them seem ‘abnormal.’ The gender paradigm specific to monotheistic religions imposed a binary, making two-spirit people unacceptable.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The work of the white American 19th-century painter George Catlin – who described these people as ‘dandies,’ alongside racist epithets – helped to spark Monkman’s awakening. It was Catlin’s painting Dance to the Berdash (1835-1837), which depicts a dance ceremony carried out by two-spirit people, that pushed him to want to restore justice to the memory of his ancestors, after the white gaze had reduced them to strange beings with shameful practices. 
Monkman wanted to celebrate these traditions that had died out by highlighting marginalized sexualities. By his own admission, it was the discovery of two-spirit people that allowed him to proudly assume his Fisher River Cree Nation identity as well as his sexuality; a Canadian environment dominated by Christian religions hadn’t exactly been conducive to that. 
This work turns on its head the hierarchy that is usually established between cultures from the European continent and First Nations. It restores dignity to a past that was disdained and questions current forms of racial domination and anti-LGBTQIA+ attitudes. It’s the First Nations who, through their recognition of people with fluid gender and sexual identities, lead the way, showing a society capable of acknowledging pluralities that would have been unimaginable in Canadian society until recently.

The country continues to be rocked by the exposure of racist practices against Indigenous peoples. Children were taken away from their families for decades to be placed with other families or in white institutions – a tragedy experienced by Kent Monkman’s family. Playing with sarcasm and irony, he takes on white artists who, upon discovering Indigenous people, painted with a gaze tinged with racism, all the while exploiting their appearance and their bodies for artistic and social recognition.&nbsp;
A semi-clothed Miss Chief on horseback, wearing high heels, incarnates an archetypal femininity. Combined with a traditional chieftain’s costume – a symbol of swaggering virility – it mocks the burdens inflicted by colonization and the constraints of binary gender. She is happy to express her pride, and honor the ancestors who were rendered invisible.&nbsp;
<hr>
‘True Stories’ Until September 17, 2023 MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine
Rokhaya Diallo is an award-winning journalist, author, and director based in Paris.
English translation: Catherine Bennett.
Published on July 19, 2023.

title_style_2

The director of Paris+ par Art Basel unveils the highlights of the forthcoming 2023 edition

Stories

Clément Delépine: ‘It’s time for culture to break down barriers’

As the celebrated Rencontres d’Arles open, discover the city’s key cultural players

How Arles became one of the most dynamic cultural centers in the South of France

The young French artist brings great myths – and great questions – to life in his painting&nbsp;Parade, currently on view at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris

Pol Taburet’s spiritual visions

In a film on view as part of ‘True Stories’ at MAC VAL in Paris, the Canadian artist celebrates identities shunned by colonizers

Welcome,

DISCOVER MORE RELATED CONTENT BELOW: