Thunderbird Woman
ARTIST
Internationally recognized and renowned artist Daphne Odjig was born September 11, 1919 and raised on the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island (Lake Huron), Ontario Canada. Her father and her grandfather, Chief Jonas Odjig, were Potawatomi, descended from the great chief Black Partridge. The Odjig family was among the Potawatomi who migrated north and settled in Wikwemikong after the war of 1812. The Potawatomi (Keepers of the Fire) were members with the Ojibwa and Odawa, of the Three Fires Confederacy of the Great Lakes. Information gathered from: odjig.com
Painters: Mike Valcourt & Peatr Thomas
LOCATION
Duckworth Centre
(The University of Winnipeg)
400 Spence St.
Winnipeg, MB
(Ellice-facing wall)
ABOUT / ARTIST STATEMENT
"The Thunderbird Woman represents a figure of transformation, half-woman and half-bird. It is an icon a symbolic message of hope and matriarchal strength," said Jaimie Issac, curator of Indigenous and contemporary art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Issac guest curated the project with festival curators Synonym Art Consultation.
Daphne Odjig created Thunderbird Woman in 1973, when she lived in Winnipeg.
A founder of the Aboriginal Group of Seven (which included famed painter Norval Morrisseau), Odjig opened the first Indigenous-run gallery in Canada: the New Warehouse Gallery. It became the home for the "Indian Group of Seven/Professional Native Indian Arts Association," the formal name for the Aboriginal Group of Seven.
Odjig, who died in 2016 at age 97, remains a celebrated Indigenous artist. Collectors and gallery curators alike consider her work as relevant today as ever, and often cite her as an example for the current resurgence of Indigenous artistic expression.
In a statement, festival artists and organizers said they hoped the recreation of Odjig's Thunderbird Woman would deepen public appreciation of Indigenous art. They said they also want the mural to act as a symbol of strength as Winnipeg continues to evolve and face up to challenges posed by issues of social justice related to Indigenous people, especially those faced by Indigenous women and girls, and two-spirited people.
Mural was recreated in partnership with Winnipeg Art Gallery and with permission of the Odjig Family.