Norval Morrisseau standing before his artwork, ca. 1977. Photograph by Dick Loek, Toronto Star Newspaper. Accessed October 4, 2024, https://zocalopoets.com/tag/norval-morrisseau/.

Note from the Editors: With the visual prominence of Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau’s paintings throughout the site, we seek to disrupt eighteenth-century systems of surveillance over people of color and queer communities–systems that continue to shape the world we have inherited. Morrisseau himself navigated settler institutions throughout his life, as his Indigenous community was confined to a reservation, he was forced to attend residential schools, and settler policies prevented First Nations communities from practicing traditional lifeways. Because of these histories, we wish to extend possibilities for imagining how contemporary art summons pathways for revisualizing embodiment, eroticism, and kinship.

NORVAL MORRISSEAU: CANADAIN ARTIST

Norval Morrisseau (March 14, 1932–December 4, 2007), also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Indigenous Canadian artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. Widely regarded as the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada, Morrisseau created works depicting the myths and legends of the Anishnaabe people.¹ Known for his use of bright colors and the depiction of spiritual themes and symbolism, Morrisseau is considered to be the creator of Woodland Art.² In 2008, Morrisseau was honored with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award during the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards held at the Sony Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

• Carmen Roberston. Norval Morrisseau: Life and Work. Art Institute Canada, 2016.
• The Estate of Norval Morrisseau. “About Norval Morrisseau.” N.d. https://www.officialmorrisseau.com/index.aspx.
• Zócalo Poets. “Jesus Christ the Shaman: The Paintings of Norval Morrisseau.” December 25, 2013. https://zocalopoets.com/tag/norval-morrisseau/.



NOTES

1. Carmen Robertson, Norval Morrisseau: Life and Work (Art Institute Canada), 3.

2. Robertson, Norval Morrisseau, 3; see also “What is Woodland Art?,” Cedar Hill Long House Native Art Prints, October 1, 2018, https://cedarhilllonghouse.ca/blogs/what-is-woodland-art/ and “Norval Morrisseau and The Woodland School of Art,” EA Studios, accessed October 9, 2024, https://www.eastudioscalgary.com/woodland-school-of-art-culture-tradition/.