Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series with Adrian Stimson: 'Not for the Faint of Heart'

Adrian Stimson. Image credit Blaine Russell.

Join us for an insightful conversation with Adrian Stimson as part of the Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series. In this session titled Not for the Faint of Heart: The Continuum of Decolonizing the Western Art Practice, Stimson will explore his artistic journey and the constant challenge of decolonizing his work in an often politically hostile world.

Stimson often tells people that art is not for the faint of heart, as it takes courage to face the colonial beast—an incessant and relentless process. He reflects on how, as Indigenous artists, we navigate the hostilities of a politically charged world, care for ourselves, and use our art to counter dominant narratives. He challenges us to consider: Are we truly decolonizing, or are we merely pawns in an ever-shifting game controlled by colonial powers? Akin to The Matrix, do we choose the white pill, the red pill—or simply become a pill ourselves?

Facilitated by Janine Windolph, Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre, the session includes a presentation by Stimson followed by a discussion and a Q&A. This conversation will be recorded and shared following the event, but the Q&A portion will remain unrecorded. Sessions may share experiences and ask difficult questions.

About the Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series

The Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series is a bi-monthly conversation session inviting leading Indigenous Art creators to discuss their practices and processes. The series engages an Indigenous lens across various art forms, including Literary Arts, Film and Media Arts, Digital Media, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts such as Theatre, Dance, and Music. These sessions offer a space to explore and deepen your understanding of how Indigenous artists use their disciplines as tools to decolonize artistic processes and creation.

Visit the Decolonizing the Narrative Conversation Series page to access recordings of previous talks and learn more about upcoming sessions.

Biography

Adrian Stimson is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in Southern Alberta, Canada.

Adrian received a BFA with distinction from the Alberta University of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. He identifies as an interdisciplinary artist and exhibits his work nationally and internationally.

His paintings are varied, but he is well known for his black-and-white monochromatic paintings depicting bison in imagined landscapes. These pieces are melancholic, memorializing, and sometimes whimsical, evoking themes of cultural fragility, resilience, and nostalgia. The British Museum acquired two of his paintings for its North American Indigenous collection.

His performance art examines identity construction, particularly the hybridization of the Indian, the cowboy, the shaman, and the Two-Spirit being. Two recurring personas in his work are Buffalo Boy and The Shaman Exterminator. He is also known for putting his body under stress in his performances. In White Shame Re-worked, he pierced his chest seven times, recreating a performance originally done by Ahasiw-Muskegon Iskew. He crawled across the desert in 110-degree heat for What About the Red Man? and, for Burning Man's The Green Man, he recently dug a Trench in a five-day durational performance from sunrise to sunset.

His installation work primarily examines the residential school experience, as he attended three residential schools during his life. He has used materials from Old Sun Residential School on his Nation to create works that speak to genocide, loss, and resilience.

His sculptural works include Spirit of Alliance, a public sculpture in Saskatoon; Bison Sentinel, located in the healing gardens of the First Nations University of Canada; and Inii Bison Heart, a bronze bison unveiled in Fall 2019 in Calgary. In June 2023, the Canadian Government awarded Team Stimson (Adrian Stimson, LeuWebb Projects, MBTW Group) the commission for the National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan, which will be located in Ottawa.

His video work includes As Above So Below for With Secrecy and Despatch at Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW, Australia, 2016. Using drone cameras, he created a two-channel video displayed cinematically on the gallery wall, addressing colonial genocide through massacres on traditional lands. He has also created many short videos featuring his personas, Buffalo Boy and The Shaman Exterminator.

He participated in the Canadian Forces Artist Program, which sent him to Afghanistan in 2010. This experience resulted in two exhibitions: Holding Our Breath and Terms of Engagement, both of which toured across Canada.
Adrian was awarded the University of Saskatchewan Alumni of Influence Award in 2020, the Governor General Award for Visual and Media Arts in 2018, and the REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award from the Hnatyshyn Foundation in 2017. He also received the Blackfoot Visual Arts Award in 2009, the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003.