​Contemporary South African Art

Jackson Beardy

In 1972 Jackson Beardy, Alex Janvier and Daphne Odjig held a joint exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. It was called "Treaty Numbers 23, 287, 1171" a reference to the treaty numbers that the Canadian government gave to the indigenous groups which they had concluded treaties. From this exhibition grew a group of indigenous (Native) Canadian artists who named their selves the "Professional Native Indian Artists Association” in 1973. This is better known as the Indian Group of Seven, including alongside Jackson Beardy also Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Ray, Eddy Cobiness en Joseph Sanchez. This group combined forces to promote their work into the world of western art. They were committed to indigenous control of indigenous art and to change the way the world looked to this art. A shift from an emphasis on "indigenous" to "Artistic” value.

From 1982 through 1983, Jackson Beardy was senior arts advisor to the Federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development now Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. He helped to make a methodological shift from the anthropological to the aesthetic evaluation of “Native art”. He worked tirelessly to lay the institutional and activist political foundations, which would help future generation of First Nations artists.

Ref:

http://orecartgbp.weebly.com/indian-group-of-seven.html