New art work unveiled

Anishnaabe artist Robert Houle, a member of the Sandy Bay First Nation, near Winnipeg, recently attended the opening of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery’s major permanent collection exhibition, RE: collection and presented a public art talk on his 2017 painting, O-ween du muh waun (We were Told).

Commissioned by the Confederation Centre Art Gallery (CCAG) to mark the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, with funds from the art gallery and Eliza Jane Ramsden Endowment Fund, his oil on canvas triptych is a timely consideration of the long First Nation’s presence in this land and more generally the idea of history painting.

“The (Canada) 150 idea was not an issue for me, but rather a correction to clarify that my sense of country dates back further than 1867,” Houle said, explaining his visions around the new work. “Our friendship and numbered treaties are also preceded by the presence of our ancestors going back millennia; as well as the whole question of the historical painting by such artists as Benjamin West.”

Houle’s work is a major addition to the gallery’s collection and, specifically, the Confederation Murals Series, which includes works by Jean Paul Lemieux, John Fox, Jack Shadbolt, Jane Ash Poitras, Yvon Gallant and Wanda Koop.

In his new work, O-ween du muh waun (We were Told), Houle focuses exclusively on this same Delaware warrior figure, seated on the Plains of Abraham, and facing east. He eliminates all the other figures from West’s composition. Like much of Houle’s work, O-ween du muh waun (We were Told) addresses current political and cultural issues by looking to history. As Canada looks towards a reconciliation with First Nations, Houle’s painting stands as an important marker within the CCAG’s collection and the RE: collection exhibition as it explores the building of a Canadian art collection as an optimistic mission and a reflection on the evolving country, its history, geography, people and communities.

O-ween du muh waun (We Were Told) is on display in Upper West Gallery at the CCAG until Dec. 31.