Brushing Up on Cool Indigenous People

Mi’kmaw artist Nelson White is a representational painter. His most recent exhibit, Tukien (Awaken) is currently showing at in the Main Art Gallery at The Rooms. It portrays Indigenous identity as modern and multifaceted, offering a welcome counterpoint to the generic and stereotypical depictions of Indigenous people that so often dominate contemporary culture. The Independent interviewed White to learn more about the show’s origins and its development. 

White says he didn’t want to depict  Indigenous subjects exclusively in “full regalia with feathers.” Instead, he wanted people to see a fuller spectrum of Indigenous identities. Those portrayed in his work are people he knows: “these are people that are in my life so that’s what I’m trying to put forward–that we’re a contemporary, modern, educated, industrious people.” Taking his cool friends and family as inspiration, White challenges  stereotypical representations. Tukien (Awaken) features vibrant portraits of real people who don’t conform to common tropes of Indigeneity: hip-hop musicians, doctors, artists, police officers, to name only a few. 

The colourful paintings are highlighted against the black walls of The Room’s Art Gallery. Most, but not all, of his  subjects are painted in front of flower backgrounds, making them the focal point of each piece. White says, “I don’t want them [depicted] in a place. I want […] the portraits to be about the subject, except when the place is important to the story.”

Mireille Eagan, the Curator of Contemporary Art at The Rooms, helped White express his vision. White “is telling a story about… Indigenous peoples that is ultimately shifting what has come before,” says Eagan. “Focusing more on changing ideas of what you know, around dance… or the important role of hip-hop in Indigenous culture… especially for Indigenous youth. It’s a shift in the story.” The painting, “Just Being Me,” for example, features Kookum, a DJ and multimedia maker who often tours with the Snotty Nose Rez Kids. The First Nation hip hop duo is also featured in another of White’s paintings, “Native Gothic.”

When Matthew Hills first moved to the province five years ago, he says he was moved by White’s work. It “jumped out to me – stood out to me as someone whose work was important for closer examination for [a] solo exhibition.” Hills is now Gallery Director and Curator of the Memorial University Art Collection at Grenfell. He’s excited to be curating and touring the work of a powerful Indigenous artist who is mapping his community. To date, White’s show has toured five different art galleries. 

His family and friends, some of whom modeled for these paintings, have come out to experience the artworks in the gallery spaces as well. In this way, White’s works don’t just represent his local community and his social network, they also affirm these connections as they travel.

Opening night pow-wow

The show started off with a bang–quite literally. On January 14, 2023, a drum circle filled up the atrium at The Rooms, where everyone was holding hands and dancing to the same rhythm. It has “never happened before,” Eagan says. “It was a joyful gathering, really good turn out for a storm night, [and a] really good turn out overall.”

The choice to open the exhibit in this way was purposeful. White reveals the goal was to create a feeling  of community at The Rooms, and offer visitors the sense of what a mini pow-wow is like. As an important Indigenous ceremony, it brings people together in body and mind through music and dancing.

“We wanted everyone here to take part in a round dance [and] take part in activities,” White says. “We wanted a little more than just speeches. We wanted… people [to] walk away feeling good and feeling joyous.” The connections between people are important to White, and he tries to foster them in, with, and through his work.

Stan Hill, an artist and art activist, was there on opening night with his grandson. The two of them are featured in one of White’s paintings. “I think his grandson was getting fed up… [of] being picked up [so many times]… in front of his painting,” White remarks, standing in front of the the  painting in question. Titled, “Grandfather, it shows Hill holding his tiny grandson in his arms. White wanted to honour the importance of family in this image, and acknowledge how grandfathers in Indigenous communities pass on knowledge to younger generations. 

“I wanted to portray that relationship with a grandfather and a grandchild and how important that relationship is [because] I was very close to my grandfather growing up,” White says. With the help of Hill and his grandson he was able to effectively capture that relationship between grandfather and grandchild. It’s already having an impact: “This painting was just bought by the Canada Arts Council,” White adds, “it’s going to live in Ottawa… when the show ends.”

“You can’t subtract where you came from”

White grew up in the Mi’kmaq community of Epwikek, Ktaqmkuk. He was raised as a member of the Flat Bay First Nation Band. “Half the people in the show are from my community,” White says. “Well, not half of them but four [or] three… of them. It keeps you grounded. There’s a sense of home… You never forget where you’re from, you know, you’re very in tune with your roots.”

White has been making art since he was old enough to hold a pencil or a brush. White later attended Grenfell, Bay City George Community College, and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He kept painting, and along the way, White came into his own style.

“I kind of almost need to paint…there’s a quote Mireille put in the show here,” White says. “[where] I said… if I never sold another painting and never showed ever again, I’d still paint everyday and… it’s one of those things I’ve always done and there’s solace and kind of a zen attitude to it.”

When creating his paintings in his basement, White reveals he had kept them stacked against one another. He says the single moment that stands out to him was seeing them all displayed at once: “I’d never seen them all together hung up as a group,” White added. “It was very satisfying when I first walked into Grenfell a couple of years ago when the show [was] first hung… what I had planned actually worked so that was actually very gratifying.”

The initial Tukien (Awaken) show had 18 paintings, but because The Rooms has more space than the other galleries where the show has toured, The Rooms asked if they could  add a couple more  paintings. And they did. They added something from the permanent collection plus “Grandfather” and one called “Ribbon Shirt.” Expanding the show by three paintings really helped fill the bigger space. 

White also received a commission from The Rooms for a painting. Called “Big Drum,” it hangs in the stairway leading to the art gallery. It depicts a group in a drum circle, and helped inspire the idea for the pow-wow during the opening reception. According to White, The Rooms had wanted something large: “the first thing that came to my head was a big drum,” White explains. “It’s a gathering. It’s part of a ceremony, part of a pow-wow… part of bringing people together.” White’s paintings continue to bring people together as they make their way through galleries near and far. 

He even has a painting in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It’s called “Veteran Elder” and it features his friend’s dad, Ellsworth R. Oakley Jr. who served during the Korean War. “Having a work at the Smithsonian is gratifying,” White says. “It’s one of these things that’s, you know, it’s very permanent… the Smithsonian is always going to exist and your artwork is always going to exist in that space.”

Dear Joey Smallwood, Indigenous peoples do exist

When Newfoundland joined Confederation back in 1949, White explains, Joey Smallwood–the first premier– insisted that there were no existing Indigenous peoples in the province. White painted “Reclaiming the Throne” in direct response to this false claim. The painting, heavily featured in the promotion of Tukien (Awaken), depicts Indigenous artist Jordan Bennett sitting in Smallwood’s old chair. Smallwood sat in the chair from 1949-1972 during his tenure at the House of Assembly. The chair eventually made its way to The Rooms where it was displayed at the Future Possible exhibit in 2019, its seat open and empty for the imagined taking. 

“We just didn’t exist anymore, there were no Indigenous people in the province. They didn’t have to negotiate in terms of Confederation and stuff like that… my reaction to seeing his chair [at the Rooms] was I wanted to put somebody on that chair that was… [the] total opposite of everything he said.”

Though the statement was made long ago, it still echoes; White’s painting serves as a reckoning. “If we didn’t exist, how do you explain Jordan Bennett who’s a very successful internationally known [Mi’kmaw] artist, who comes from Stephenville Crossing?” White adds. “I wanted somebody to take over his chair and I thought there was no one better than Jordan.” 

Indigenous peoples are often represented in stereotypical ways, grouped together into one community, dressed in generic traditional clothing, and positioned as belonging to the past. Not only is this reductive and limiting, it also means that the presence of real, living Indigenous individuals–who don’t align with the stereotypes–are not acknowledged in the dominant culture.

As the show’s title suggests, Tukien (Awaken) is a wake-up call. Purposefully painted in bright colours, the portraits are meant to grab our attention and encourage us to look and actually see the real people who are right in front of us. 

“Hey, look wake up,” White says, “Here we are and this is who we are–we’re not the stereotypes. We’re not these things in glass cylinders that you can sort of just say we’re one thing. We’re not. We’re many things.”

Tukien (Awaken) is currently on display in the level 4 Main Art Gallery at The Rooms until April 2, 2023.