„Shaman never dies”. Rock art as the expression of the identity in the art of Jane Ash Poitras

• Published in: Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia
• Main Author: Rozwadowski, Andrzej
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Polish
• Published: Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan 2019
• Subjects: rock art; modern art; Indigenous art; Canada; identity; Jane Ash Poitras; shamanism; First Nations
• Online Access: http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/fpp/article/view/26318

This article discusses the phenomenon of reusing of ancient rock art iconography in modern art on the example of the artworks of Canadian Cree visual artist Jane Ash Poitras. To understand the role the rock art plays in the collages of J.A. Poitras, the first part of the paper is focused on the Indigenous perspective, which provides the clue to reading complexity of history and contemporary art of the First Nations in Canada. Then the painting Shaman never die V is thoroughly analyzed. It is showed that rock art motifs used in this artwork had been very carefully selected and the meanings they evoke significantly go in pair with wider ideas related to traumatic history of Indigenous Canadians as well as ideas related to persistence of Indigenous spirituality symbolized by the image of shaman. This article discusses the phenomenon of reusing of ancient rock art iconography in modern art on the example of the artworks of Canadian Cree visual artist Jane Ash Poitras. To understand the role the rock art plays in the collages of J.A. Poitras, the first part of the paper is focused on the Indigenous perspective, which provides the clue to reading complexity of history and contemporary art of the First Nations in Canada. Then the painting Shaman never die V is thoroughly analyzed. It is showed that rock art motifs used in this artwork had been very carefully selected and the meanings they evoke significantly go in pair with wider ideas related to traumatic history of Indigenous Canadians as well as ideas related to persistence of Indigenous spirituality symbolized by the image of shaman.