Lauren Crazybull
Alberta’s first provincial artist in residence reverses the colonial gaze by painting powerful portraits of Indigenous people.
Lauren Crazybull, “Self-Portrait,” 2019
acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36” (courtesy of the artist)
Most portrayals of First Nations’ people from the 18th and 19th centuries fall into two categories: the brutal and faceless “Indian” shown attacking settlers, or the noble, if naïve, savage. While such paintings are being banished into museum basements, their dehumanizing stereotypes endure. It takes visionaries like Lauren Crazybull, a 24-year-old Blackfoot and Dene artist, to push them further into oblivion.
The Edmonton-based painter, recently selected as Alberta’s first provincial artist in residence, focuses on portraits of people she knows. They are all Indigenous and mostly young, but the overriding impression of her show, The Future All At Once, in Edmonton’s McMullen Gallery until Aug. 8, is not the ethnicity of the sitters but their powerful presence.
Lauren Crazybull, “Power and Vulnerability,” 2019
acrylic on canvas, 64” x 52” (courtesy of the artist)
Entering the gallery is like walking into a room where everyone suddenly turns to look at you. For example, the larger-than-life figure in Power and Vulnerability gazes straight at viewers.The subject’s head tilts upwards in a gesture of defiance, but other body language – a protectively folded hand resting gently on the lap, for instance – is almost shy. Green and crimson striations illuminate the background like the northern lights, lending this work a mythical, even prophetic, quality.
Crazybull, who was raised in foster homes and exposed to small-town racism from an early age, monumentalizes the ordinary people within her circle. These silent sitters are in control: they, not the viewer, do the looking. They confront and reverse the colonial gaze.
Lauren Crazybull, “Seth,” 2019
acrylic on canvas, 36.5” x 37” (courtesy of the artist)
Such social commentary is informed by Crazybull’s community activism. She volunteers in Edmonton’s inner city and has created radio podcasts about residential schools, intergenerational trauma and gender-based violence in Indigenous communities. But since January, when she was chosen from some 100 applicants for the province’s artist residency, she is busier than ever.
Lauren Crazybull, “The Future All At Once,” 2019
installation view, McMullen Galley (courtesy the artist and McMullen Gallery, Edmonton)
The position comes with a $45,000 grant and responsibilities that include attending cultural events and serving as an advocate for artists. But Crazybull’s main task – and the project she submitted with her winning entry – is to visit Indigenous communities throughout the province. Now in the midst of her travels, she is compiling stories for what she calls The Portrait of Alberta, which she envisions as an Indigenous art map.
It's often said that history is written by the victors. Crazybull demonstrates that this statement no longer holds true. Artists like her, and the young sitters she paints, are helping to write a new chapter for the annals of history. They are taking control of Indigeneity, offering a truer version, and shaping their own destiny. ■
Lauren Crazybull: The Future All At Once is on view at the McMullen Gallery, Friends of University Hospitals, in Edmonton, from June 8 to Aug. 4, 2019.
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McMullen Gallery
8440 112 St, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2B7
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