Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Gerard Gorce Fine Arts Inc., Montreal
Private Collection, British Columbia
Exhibited
Dominion Gallery, Montreal, 1975
The buffalo has deep significance to the culture and history for the Anishinaabe First Nation peoples. The Anishinaabe Medicine Wheel depicts the buffalo as a guard to the West, the quadrant to which it is assigned, mirroring the directions of the Earth and teaching unity and respect to all living things.
The North American Seven Grandfather Teachings also include the buffalo in their seven guiding principles to their cultural foundation. With an animal or being assigned to a moral value, the buffalo represents respect through honouring all creation. Buffalo were not only a source of sustenance for First Nations people, all parts of the animal were given to support human way of living. Both the sacrifice of life and the use of all parts of the animal are signs of mutual respect as one gives life to sustain another. These cultural themes are represented in form and line in the artist's fluid contours, connecting the all the composition forms.
