Daphne Odjig
Meri Danielyan
Daphne Odjig, (September 11, 1919 – October 1, 2016), was a Canadian First Nations artist of Odawa-Potawatomi-English heritage. Her painting is often characterized as Woodlands Style or as the pictographic style.
Early life and family
Odjig was born in 1919 at Wiikwemkoong ( First Nation reserve in the north-eastern section of Manitoulin Island in Manitoulin District, Ontario, Canada ), the principal village on the Manitoulin Island Unceded Indian Reserve
Her mother (Joyce) was an Englishwomen and her father (Dominic) was a descendent of Odawa/Potawatomi tribe
Odjig got influenced by her paternal grandfather. She said, "He played a great role in my life – he nurtured my creative spirit – he was the first one I ever drew with ... he was my first mentor."
Both of her parents encouraged her to explore art. Odjig was influenced by her mother, who embroidered, and her father, who liked to draw war scenes and his officers from his experience in WW1.
Odjig's coming of age story
When she moved to Toronto during the Second World War, Odjig spent her weekends teaching herself to paint by observing and copying works of the masters at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Toronto. Her early oil paintings were well-received and show the influence of Picasso, Matisse, and the Impressionists.
In 1964, Odjig was invited to attend the fourth annual pow wow at Wikwemikong and experienced a life and career-altering awakening. As a young adult in northern Ontario she had encountered racial discrimination and faced barriers to employment because of her Anishinaabe name and appearance and, in response, had adopted the Anglicized version of her family name Odjig. While dancing with her relatives to the beat of the pow wow drum, though, she suddenly understood herself as an Indigenous woman. The exuberant pride and defiance she witnessed and participated in at the pow wow inspired her to accept and honor her heritage and redirect her artistic work to celebrate and investigate the history and traditions of her people.
Career
In the 1960s Odjig began to paint scenes from Manitoulin legends
in the 1970s she focused further on her Indian heritage and culture, and the impact of colonialism on her people. Among other subjects, she explored mythology, history, and landscapes.
She had a Woodland style, which emphasizes outlines and X-ray views of people, animals, and plant life.
Odjig has received numerous awards and accolades, including a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2007 and many honourary doctoral degrees from universities across Canada.
Influence and significance
Odjig found that art was a brilliant way of showing the Aboriginal culture and the colonial history. Most importantly she created a body of work that helped bring an Indigenous voice to the foreground of contemporary Canadian art.
In one of her interviews the interviewer asked, "Our work has also addressed controversial topics such as colonization; suppression; racism. Why did you feel those issues were also important to document? What was the message you wanted to share? "
Odjig replied by, "Again, I believe it is just as important to highlight and memorialize all aspects of our world and cultures. To me, it is important not to bury the shame and trauma caused by the issues you ask about."
Odjig not only understood the horrible consequences of colonialism, but also had the power to accept the trauma, the importance of reconciliation and the inclusion of Indigenous people in Canada.
Odjig was also a feminist, which wasn't a common way of thinking at that time.
She was cofounder of the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. /the “Indian Group of Seven”. The artistic production of First Nations peoples was seen as little more than exotic handicraft to be housed in museums and was rarely exhibited as fine art. The group wanted to change this perception and organized a lot of projects. It was critical to the early development of contemporary Indigenous art and curatorial practice in Canada.
Why Daphne Odjig?
Relatability-Odjig once stated that "Art was always a part of our lives" , and as a person coming from a family of artist I can relate to this. My mother is a pianist, singer, writer and a painter, while my father is a sound-engineer. Even though I want to become a doctor, art, especially theater, music and photography, have always been and will always be part of my life.
Significance- As I mentioned in the last section, Odjig had a great significance in spreading Indigenous culture and raising awareness about colonialism through art.