Thunderbird Woman soars in mural form

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This article was published 23/10/2018 (2535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg’s downtown Duckworth Centre is the canvas for a massive mural of Daphne Odjig’s iconic Thunderbird Woman.

The work of art was reproduced over the course of 56 days this fall by artists Mike Valcourt and Peatr Thomas for the Wall-to-Wall Mural and Cultural Festival. Thunderbird Woman was the final piece to be painted in the two-month-long event. The mural measures nearly 10 metres by eight metres.

“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.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca