MUSE MAGAZINE WHOSE STORY ARE WE TELLING?

MUSE MAGAZINE WHOSE STORY ARE WE TELLING?

By Julia Ranney

42 Hot-pink platform heels. A buff, naked, Indigenous man with long, feathered earrings which frame sky-high cheekbones. Eyes full of desire, he gives a haircut to a naked, French soldier sleeping on a bed. That’s what I said when my art history professor asked me to describe Kent Monkman’s painting, Montcalm’s Haircut. It was the first time I had been exposed to a famous artist who was openly gay or of Indigenous heritage. Monkman’s work deals with many important artistic issues including the white male gaze, the Indigenous voice, and the sanitation of homosexualized images. He’s a celebration of contemporary pop culture, whose work fills the walls of the Art Gallery of Ontario and Elton John’s living room. His larger canvases can sell for $150,000 each. Yet, Monkman is one of the few marginalized artists to celebrate such success. If I asked you to name the first artist that came to mind, it would most likely be a white male. This solidifies the fact that art history has long had a diversity problem. For hundreds of years, the art world has been European and maledominated, with these men deciding who enters the industry and who does not. Women artists, artists of colour, and LGBTQ+ artists have been missing from gallery walls and history textbooks, forming the impression that important artwork is produced by only a certain type of artist. Culture has dictated that white, European men have risen to creative fame because they have some unstoppable genius within them – think Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo. But did anyone mention that Leonardo was notorious for never finishing his art, or how Michelangelo dabbled in art fraud? There are positives amidst this neglect and campaigns working to change this norm. In the 1980s, the Guerilla Girls, a New York City feminist group, created flyers that critiqued racism and

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAWSON COX

sexism in the art world. They called attention to the low number of minorities and women showcased in major exhibitions, including the Modern Museum of Art’s 1985 show titled, “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture,” which featured a mere 13 female artists amid 152 male artists. Their protest emphasized that art by women and people of colour is just as worthy as those created by the great male masters. Ultimately, art should represent our culture: the streets we walk in, the songs we sing, and the pictures we paint. If only some voices are represented in the history of art, can we really call it the history of art? More accurately, it’s the history of control or power. Art is one of the few industries where people can come together and share an experience, despite coming from different cultural backgrounds or having varying worldviews. We need people to value art for its intended meaning, using it as a celebration of the differences of humanity which make our world thrive. We need people to see potential in themselves as creatives. To redefine societal norms and the valued artistic voice, we must engage with all aspects of culture.