Voices from the Past, 1974

Gift of the artist By descent to the present Private Collection, Victoria

“Daphne Odjig: Jerusalem Series”, Bashford & Schwarz Gallery, Calgary, November 27 - December 11, 1976

Born in Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Daphne Odjig drew inspiration from her Anishnaabe heritage to develop a distinctive and influential body of work. Odjijg was a key figure among the movement of Indigenous artists that gradually gained recognition in the Canadian art world of the 1970s. In 1973, she co-founded the Professional Native Indian Artists Association (colloquially called the “Indian Group of Seven”). The following year, she opened the Warehouse Gallery in Winnipeg. Odjig also taught at the Manitou Arts Foundation on Schrieber Island in Georgian Bay. These varied projects helped place Odjig at the forefront of cultural activity supporting and promoting Indigenous visual artists during a crucial period. Odjig’s own artistic output helped to develop the aesthetic of the New Woodland School. In “Voices from the Past”, Odjig draws on Odawa- Potawatomi belief systems to explore a compelling, personal vision conveying a metaphysical reality. Several faces seem to appear and disappear, immaterial and ghostlike, in a vortex of movement. These figures are enveloped in a flurry of wisps and swirls. Their eyes peer out, exuding wisdom and calm. The painted surface has been built up with a complex layering of dry-brush application. The artist has rendered the figures with simplified, cubist forms, a visual precursor to her later stylistic development.