Banff’s Whyte Museum hosts exhibit by the Indigenous Group of Seven

The last surviving member of the Indigenous Seven has curated an exhibit at Banff's Whyte Museum celebrating their work.

The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies’ in Banff has a new exhibition called ‘The Ancestors Are Talking - Paintings by the Indigenous Seven.’

Joseph Sanchez, the only living member of the Indigenous Seven, is the curator of the show.

He says the group – which included him, Daphne Odjig, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray, Jackson Beardy and Eddy Cobiness – started in 1970.

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Sanchez, 77, was the youngest member, and he says he learned a lot from the others.

He says they were all spiritual people who wanted to bring the idea to Canadians that spirituality is a word that can be used in describing art.

“Eddie talked about dreaming, that’s where he got his inspiration,” said Sanchez. “Daphne talked about peeping over the veil, crossing over, looking at the other dimensions, Norval traveled to all the dimensions, and I’ve been astral traveling since I was a young boy. I had a lot of out-of-body experiences.”

The exhibition is a journey though time, witnessing the artists’ evolution and growth through pieces inspired by nature, family and ceremony.

“When this group started, the idea was that we were giving our work back to the children, to our people,” Sanchez said. “Ultimately, that didn’t happen, there was no funding, but each one of us has since inspired younger artists.”

Sanchez says the Group of Seven wasn’t restrained to western thinking and teachings about art.

“Basically, this group broke that glass ceiling that we don’t have to paint like the modernists, we don’t have to paint like the European artists, we have our own point of view and we’re naturally artists,” he said.

“The benefit that we have is a spiritual connection to the other side, we can talk to the ancestors and we also are tied to the land and nature.”

Dawn Saunders Dahl, curator of Indigenous Initiatives at The Whyte Museum, says many Canadians aren’t aware of the group.

“None of the artists in this exhibit are part of the Treaty 7 territory,” she said.

“Alex is the closest, being from Cold Lake, Alberta, but all the others are Ojibwe except for Joseph (White Mountain Apache Tribe), and they have these important impacts that I think will really help foster the next generation, so we really want to encourage as many people to come, especially local indigenous youth and artists.”

The show opened May 3 and runs until Oct. 19.