LEARNING GOALS With this lesson plan, you can engage in the curriculum’s Big Idea: “Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.”
More about these artworks: The installation comprises two acrylic 11-by-22-foot paintings: Welcoming the Newcomers and Resurgence of the People (both 2019). Each is a hyperrealistic depiction of interactions with settlers in both past and present. Welcoming the Newcomers is a historical satire in which we witness a number of conversations. The focus is a rock island covered in lichen, with Monkman’s alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, standing on the edge, her hand outstretched to survivors of an unknown nautical disaster. …Resurgence of the People picks up where Welcoming the Newcomers leaves off. Situated in contemporary times, Resurgence of the People is a snapshot of what Indigenous folks are witnessing and experiencing today. Monkman describes Resurgence of the People as being in conversation with “arrivals and migrations and displacements of people around the world” and portraying Indigenous generosity.
an interdisciplinary Cree visual artist. A member of Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory (Manitoba), he lives and works in Dish With One Spoon Territory (Toronto, Canada).
Known for his provocative interventions into Western European and American art history, Monkman explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience— the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experiences—across painting, film/video, performance, and installation. Monkman’s gender-fluid alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle often appears in his work as a time-traveling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples.
Watch Kent Monkman 'reverses the colonial gaze' with new paintings at the Met (3:29) embedded above Reflection questions:
Monkman talks about Indigenous people being erased from Art History in Turtle Island and hopes his artwork makes a space for Indigenous people in this history.
Why were Indigenous people erased from Art History? How does Kent Monkman address this in his two paintings?
Next, watch Artist Interview—Kent Monkman: mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) | Met Exhibitions (4:18) embedded above
Kent Monkman talks about creating his alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle to be a powerful Two-Spirit persona in his artwork. He says she embodies a sense of humour and playfulness.
Her role is partly demonstrated in her name: “Miss Chief” sounds like mischief. And “Eagle Testickle” is an approximate homophone for “egotistical”. Through her presence alone as an Indigenous, Two-Spirit person, she helps the viewer question what we hear, read, and view, contributing to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.
Reflection questions:
Kent Monkman talked about wanting Miss Chief to be the hero of the painting. How does he do this? How does he show her as the hero?
Why is it important for someone like Miss Chief to be shown as a hero in a painting?