This masterpiece is on display in the Northern Salon at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Odjig, born in 1919 on Manitoulin Island, has been a prominent figure on the Canadian scene since the 1960s, when she helped spark an Aboriginal cultural revival with her unique, expressive style that fused Picasso’s Cubism with Native stories. She is perhaps known as a central member of the Anishnabe or Woodland School, an art movement that also included the late Norval Morrisseau.

“The Indian in Transition” takes the viewer on a historical odyssey from a time before the arrival of Europeans, through the devastation and destruction of Aboriginal cultures, to an expression of rejuvenation and hope.