Via Radio-Canada

Maya Jabbari

Editor-In-Chief

The Kent Monkman: History is Painted By The Victors exhibition ending March 8th, curated by Léuli Eshrāghi, John Lukavic, and Monkman himself, is meticulously organized to reclaim history’s perpetual colonial narratives and its impact on, specifically, Indigenous and Two-Spirit peoples. Located at the MMFA’s Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, the exhibition further takes back the colonial narrative by not only taking place in a Greco-Roman style building, but also by being displayed by an institution that was built by Montreal’s elite, who happened to be White men. 

Comprising 41 canvases, History is Painted By The Victors is divided into five rooms, each with a distinct intention to further the artworks’ separate meanings in the collection. Displaying gender fluidity, colonization taking place in numerous forms, the prison system’s impact on minorities, police brutality, and the fight for environmental conservation, this exhibition encompasses all, and does it so beautifully, generating thought-provoking questions within us.

Looking at these paintings and digging deeper to understand them and their placement in their rooms was a challenge, but an exciting one. Monkman’s paintings are the type that you walk away from thinking you’ve caught every detail in them, and you look back for one second, and another one comes to you, and by then you’re consumed by it. I can’t express how much I recommend going to see this exhibition. It opens your eyes and forces you to think about the way in which colonial narratives have impacted – and continue to impact – people’s everyday lives.