Oldal 99 [99]
NATIVE HUMOUR AND IDENTITY CONTESTED THROUGH LITERATURE AND THE ARTS
Figure 1. Bill Powless, “Indians’ Summer’, acrylic on canvas 97x 177 cm, 1984, Tribal
Vision, n.d. http://www.tribalvisiondance.com/p/original-artwork-by-bill-powless.
html. By permission of artist.
Another drawing by Powless, titled Fear of Wet Feathers (1985) (see Figure 2),
featured along with Indians’ Summer in an exhibition on Native art mounted
by Hamilton artists in January 1985 (Ryan 11). Here, the traditional warrior
facial paint, native dress, long hair, and feathers are contested with an image,
the umbrella, taken from modern urban living. The romanticized notion of
Indianness is contrasted with the humanist agenda. A recognition of the human
being, the individual with its own fears contradicts traditional stereotypical
perception, which claims that the Indian is stoic, brave and fearless. The
drawing implies that Indians are just simple folk underneath the feather and
paint, and the theme of traditional versus urban and global is shown by sarcasm
and wry humour. The umbrella is a symbol of modern urban consumer society;
the umbrella image distorts and disintegrates the strong warrior image. Thomas
King’s humorous phrase comes to mind: “you're not the Indian I had in mind”
(31). Powless is highly ironic, satirical and uses self-deprecatory humour to
get his message across to the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous population
alike.
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