THE NEW REPUBLIC
By Nick Martin
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| The Cree artist has broken into mainstream success. His newest painting shows why that may be a problem. |
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on all fours, his shoulders grasped by a snarling woman in dark gray chinos, his ass cheeks being spread apart by a woman in a light blue tank top, her head thrown back in mid-laugh. There’s more to
Hanky Panky, the latest controversial painting from
Kent Monkman, a renowned artist and two-spirit Fisher River Cree Nation citizen.... This literal marginalization of the scene’s Indigenous women, as well as the painting’s notion that sexual violence should be repaid with sexual violence, broadly defines the critiques voiced by art historian Rowan Red Sky and poet Jaye Simpson and others since
Hanky Panky’s online release last week. Anticipating the backlash, Monkman included a content warning when he unveiled the work on Instagram. [
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| Hanky Panky |
