In collaboration with Kent Monkman and his studio, the Art Canada Institute is publishing a book on the commission and creation of his diptych unveiled at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art this week. Revision & Resistance: mistikôsiwak at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which will be available for sale in March 2020, celebrates Monkman’s groundbreaking paintings with essays by today’s most prominent voices on Indigenous art and Canadian painting. Contributors include Dr. Sasha Suda, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada; professors and art historians Dr. Ruth B. Phillips and Dr. Mark Salber Phillips; Dr. Jami C. Powell, Associate Curator of Native American Art at the Hood Museum; Shirley Madill, Executive Director at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery; and author and professor Dr. Nick Estes.

Kent Monkman (b.1965) is Canada’s most important and influential contemporary artist. This year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned the Cree two-spirited artist to create an epic diptych for its Great Hall that reflects comments on works in their permanent collection. The unveiling of the paintings on December 18 was a historic moment both for Monkman’s career and for spotlighting Indigenous resilience. mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) challenges the flawed representations of Indigenous peoples that exist in many museums and galleries.

The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges this book’s Title Sponsors: the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation, Kiki and Ian Delaney, Rosamond Ivey, and the Hal Jackman Foundation.