Christi Belcourt Explained

Christi Belcourt
Birth Place:Scarborough, Ontario
Occupation:Painter

Christi Marlene Belcourt (born September 24, 1966) is a Canadian visual artist and author. She is best known for her acrylic paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Belcourt's work often focuses on questions around identity, culture, place and divisions within communities.

Biography

Born in Scarborough, Ontario, Belcourt is the daughter of national Métis rights activist Tony Belcourt and Judith Pierce Martin (née Streatch). Her family's roots are connected to Manitou Saskhigan (also known as Lac Ste. Anne), Alberta. Her brother Shane Belcourt is a writer, director, musician and cinematographer known for his feature film Tkaronto, which depicts the life of urban Métis and First Nations people. Her sister Suzanne Belcourt is a graphic designer and artist living and working in southern Ontario. In 1970, her father was elected as the founding President of the Native Council of Canada (now known as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples) and the family relocated permanently to Ottawa, Ontario from Edmonton, Alberta.[1]

As a Métis visual artist with a deep respect for the traditions and knowledge of her people, the majority of her work explores and celebrates the beauty of the natural world. She is the author of three books and her artwork has been utilized as cover artwork for many publications. Belcourt's work has been featured in two documentary films: So Much Depends Upon Who Holds The Shovel (2008, Wayne Peltier) and A Life in Balance (2012, Kathy Browning).

Her artistic work has been commissioned by the Gabriel Dumont Institute (Saskatoon, 2004), the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Centre for Traditional Knowledge & Museum of Nature (Ottawa, 2002), and is found in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of History, First People's Hall. Belcourt is a past recipient of awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Métis Nation of Ontario.

She currently lives in Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta.

Community activism

Belcourt is the project creator and lead coordinator of the Walking With Our Sisters, a crowd-sourced commemorative art installation for the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada and the United States. Started in 2012 this project has toured throughout communities in North America and continues to be driven by community volunteers.[2] [3]

In 2014, Belcourt founded the community based The Onaman Collective with Isaac Murdoch and Erin Konsmo. This project aims to preserve traditional knowledge, language, and teachings.[4] In recent years Belcourt has become a vocal advocate for the need for a Métis land base and the power of Indigenous language restoration.[5] The Onaman Collective has also worked to connect traditional knowledge keepers and elders with Indigenous youth.[6] The Collective has also engaged in advocacy around water protection and raising awareness of the need to protect the Great Lakes and other bodies of water.[7] They created a series of banners free to download on their website to use during water and land protection events.[8] These banners are act of solidarity between water, land and animals protectors from different communities across Turtle Island.[9]

In the same year, Belcourt was also involved in promoting the "blue dot" movement as a way of visually protesting government decisions around the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act.[10] The blue dots added to photographs in this movement were used as a way of identifying the marginalized people left out of the conversations by the Canadian Government.

As a form of activism in 2016, Belcourt requested the Métis Nation of Ontario remove her name from the organization's registry. Belcourt's request was in part based on her disagreement with the organization's decision to sign deals with mining companies such as Energy East and Nuclear Waste Management Organization.[11]

Beginning in 2017, Belcourt was involved in the establishment 150 Acts of Resistance project. This initiative was designed to counter the Canadian government narrative around the "Canada 150" sesquicentennial celebration and to promote a discussion of the realities of colonialism and Indigenous resistance in Canada.[12]

Artwork

Painting

Belcourt has created large, mural-sized acrylic paintings that resemble the beadwork of her ancestors and community, by using her brush to make tiny dots that resemble beadwork. Her paintings are filled with floral designs that include insects, birds and other animals, spread out across the canvas. These are not just floral patterns or illustrations, but Belcourt has created stories for each work.[13]

In 2014, Christi Belcourt was inspired to make an acrylic on canvas painting with measurements of 36 by 48 inches and named, Offerings and Prayers for Genebek Ziibing. According to Belcourt, "between 1955 to 1978, there were over 30 tailings dumps and spills from uranium mines at Elliot Lake into the 10 lakes and Serpent River. The radiation from uranium dumps completely killed the life in the waters and the people of Genaabaajing are still living with the devastating environmental effects today".[14] According to a case study on Elliot Lake written in 1982, by nuclear analyst Ralph Torrie, "At Elliot Lake, Ontario, tailings were dumped into various lakes in the Serpent River watershed throughout the 1950s and 1960s".[15] This painting was created because of the inspiration received from the stories and teachings of Isaac Murdoch, an Indigenous artist and environmentalist.[16]

Stained Glass

In 2012, Belcourt created her work Giniigaaniimenaaning (looking ahead) as part of Canada's 2008 apology for its residential schools.[17] Her stained glass window is in the Parliament of Canada and includes a replica of a photo taken at the Shubeacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia.[18] The work, whose Anishinaabemowin name signifies looking ahead for the unborn ones, represents through the shattered glass the breaking of the silence surrounding the residential school system of its survivors in the 1980s, the evolving stance of the Church and governments in the recognition of the harms perpetrated by the residential schools and their apology as well as the hope of reconciliation.[19]

Exhibitions

Solo

Permanent installations

Other artistic works

Publications

Awards

Belcourt is the recipient of numerous awards and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Chalmers Family Fund and the Métis Nation of Ontario, including:[27]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Christi Belcourt turned an act of discrimination into a work of art. 3 March 2018. CBC Radio. 19 June 2018.
  2. Web site: Walking With Our Sisters installation 'more than beautiful artwork'. Porter. Jody. October 10, 2014. CBC News, Thunder Bay. May 5, 2016.
  3. Merz-Edwards. Jean. Winter 2017. Christi Belcourt: Michif Painter. First American Art. 17. 50–55.
  4. Web site: Red Man Laughing (S.5) - The Onaman Collective Interview. McMahon. Ryan. September 7, 2015. Red Man Laughting. May 5, 2016. May 13, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160513103515/http://www.redmanlaughing.com/listen/2015/9/red-man-laughing-s5-the-onaman-collective-interview. dead.
  5. News: Christi Belcourt: Reclaiming ourselves one name at a time. CBC News. 2017-04-03. en.
  6. News: Teaching tradition: Bringing youth and elders together to learn from each other. CBC Radio. 2017-04-03. en.
  7. Web site: The Great Lakes Gathering. For the Water. Ojibway Park. SaultOnline.com. Brown. Lynne. saultonline.com. en-CA. 2017-04-03.
  8. Web site: Onaman Collective. Collective. Onaman. Onaman Collective.
  9. Web site: Keep in the ground. Awasis. Sakihitowin. Canadian Art.
  10. News: Blue dots becoming symbol for First Nations Education Act resistance. Sterritt. Angela. February 12, 2014. CBC News. 2017-04-03. en.
  11. News: Prominent Métis artist wants name removed from Métis Nation registry. November 4, 2016. CBC News. 2017-04-03. Up North. en.
  12. Web site: Artists and Allies Resist #Canada150 Push on Social Media. Sandals. Leah. January 17, 2017. Canadian Art. February 10, 2017.
  13. Book: Penney, David. Before and After the Horizon - Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes. Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian. 2013. 978-1-58834-452-6. Smithsonian Institution. 24–25, 92–93.
  14. Web site: Recent Work Christi Belcourt. 2021-04-09. christibelcourt.com. 2021-04-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20210423171545/http://christibelcourt.com/ancestry/. dead.
  15. Torrie. Ralph. 1982. What the Record Shows: Uranium Mine Tailings. Alternatives. 10. 2/3. 15–31. 45030262 . 0002-6638.
  16. Web site: Who We Are Onaman Collective. 2021-04-09. en-US.
  17. Web site: Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead) "The Apology" Window, 2012 Parliament of Canada – Institute for Stained Glass In Canada . 2023-02-11 . www.glassincanada.org.
  18. Web site: Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead) "The Apology" Window, 2012 Parliament of Canada – Institute for Stained Glass In Canada . 2023-02-11 . www.glassincanada.org.
  19. Court of Canada . Supreme . 2017-11-02 . Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development) . Aboriginal Policy Studies . 6 . 2 . 10.5663/aps.v6i2.29331 . 1923-3299. free .
  20. Web site: CV. . 2015. Christi Belcourt. May 5, 2016. May 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160504051507/http://christibelcourt.com/cv/. dead.
  21. Web site: Stained Glass Window in Parliament Commemorating the Legacy of Indian Residential Schools . . December 12, 2012. Indigenous And Northern Affairs Canada. May 5, 2016 .
  22. Web site: The Medals Story: Pan Am and Parapan Am competition medals. . 2015. May 5, 2016. March 8, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160308202505/http://www.toronto2015.org/medals-story. dead.
  23. Web site: Everett-Green. Robert. Métis artist Christi Belcourt inspires Valentino fashion line. The Globe and Mail. August 4, 2015. May 5, 2016.
  24. News: Christi Belcourt brings traditional Métis beadwork to this artistic fashion collab CBC Life. CBC. 2018-05-15. en-US.
  25. News: Métis Artist Christi Belcourt. 2016-04-25. First Nations Drum Newspaper. 2018-05-15. en-CA.
  26. Web site: Hurst. Allison. 2021-06-06. Church bells chime 215 times for children found buried at Kamloops residential school. live. 2022-01-19. British Columbia. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210606232701/https://bc.ctvnews.ca/church-bells-chime-215-times-for-children-found-buried-at-kamloops-residential-school-1.5458780. 2021-06-06 .
  27. Web site: Hunnie. C. Christi Belcourt Expression of Nature. Aboriginal Boreal Conservation Leaders. 2007–2008. 2009-10-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20110724214105/http://www.abcleaders.org/stories/230/christi-belcourt. 2011-07-24. dead.
  28. Web site: 18 June 2014. Christi Belcourt receives 2014 Ontario Arts Council Aboriginal Arts Award. live. Ontario Arts Council. https://web.archive.org/web/20180319235656/http://www.arts.on.ca/news-resources/news/2014/christi-belcourt-receives-2014-ontario-arts-counci. 2018-03-19 .
  29. Web site: Raising awareness and creating momentum for indigenous culture. 2022-01-19. Governor General's Innovation Awards. en-US.
  30. Web site: Christi Belcourt receives Influential Women of Northern Ontario award. 2022-01-19. Métis Nation of Ontario. 10 June 2014 . en-US.
  31. Web site: 2014-08-06. 2014 ABORIGINAL ARTS LAUREATE: CHRISTI BELCOURT. 2022-01-19. MUSKRAT Magazine. en-US.
  32. Web site: Medals artist Christi Belcourt owns the Pan Am podium CBC Arts. Hosein. Lise. July 20, 2015. www.cbc.ca. en. 2017-04-03.
  33. News: Christi Belcourt receives Governor General Award for Innovation. May 19, 2016. CBC News. 2017-04-03. en.
  34. News: Northern Ontario Indigenous artists recognized with Premier's awards for excellence. Alex. Cathy. October 9, 2016. CBC News. February 10, 2017.
  35. Web site: Order of Canada Appointees – June 2024. Governor General of Canada. en. 2024-06-30.
  36. Web site: New stamp recognizes Métis artist and environmentalist Christi Belcourt. Canadapost . June 25, 2024 . August 25, 2024.

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