TORONTO \u2014 Kent Monkman\u2019s first-ever public art installation is dam good.<\/p>\n
The celebrated Cree artist\u2019s new permanent sculpture, dubbed \u201cThe Colony,\u201d debuts Wednesday in Toronto\u2019s east end.<\/p>\n
The 15-foot-high bronze structure features beavers dancing, feasting and celebrating, evoking Indigenous ceremonies.<\/p>\n
It highlights the vital role of beavers in the natural, Indigenous and colonial histories of Turtle Island, says a release.<\/p>\n
The public artwork is located in Toronto\u2019s Biidsaasige Park along the Lassonde Art Trail, an ambitious open-air museum. <\/p>\n
Monkman says its site, where the Don River meets Lake Ontario, is especially meaningful, as it\u2019s been an important waterway for several First Nations for thousands of years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t think of a better place for these beavers, inspired by the fanciful beavers of Veremondo Rossi\u2019s 18th-century engraving, to gather in a ceremonial feast, celebrating our world views, honouring the water, and continuing our traditions of relaying knowledge through songs and stories,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
A member of the Fisher River Cree Nation, Monkman is an interdisciplinary artist lauded for using classical painting, film and performance to challenge and rewrite colonial histories in Western art.<\/p>\n
His artworks are held in the permanent collections of institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2026.<\/p>\n
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Kent Monkman\u2019s first-ever public art installation is dam good. The celebrated Cree artist\u2019s new permanent sculpture,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75,890,715,900],"class_list":["post-916004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-lifestyle","tag-social","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}