New art piece at TMU highlights Indigenous teachings and history

A new piece of artwork has been added to TMU’s campus. Philip Cote, renowned artist, storyteller and knowledge keeper of the Moose Deer Point First Nation, created a painting for the Faculty of Community Services (FCS). The piece, titled “Morning Star and the Eastern Doorway”, was unveiled recently at an artist talk hosted by Lynn Lavallee, a professor of social work and strategic lead, Indigenous Resurgence for FCS.

“When we asked Phil to complete this work, we reflected on the fact that we [FCS] are on the eastern border of the university, as well as the connections we have with the community that exists across our nine schools,” said Lavallee.

The piece depicts two figures, one man and one woman, surrounded by symbols of Indigenous culture such as the sun, a turtle and a buffalo.

At the unveiling, Cote described the piece as a representation of the beginning of humanity in North America. In some Indigenous cultures, the “eastern doorway” signifies the beginning.

“When I do a work of art, I think about cosmology,” said Cote, referring to the origin and development of the universe. “Cosmology sets us in the right place where we think about the world in terms of that spiritualism.”

Each symbol Cote included was with intention. For example, the woman is the “morning star”, the first woman. She is the daughter of the fire keeper and represents a force of life in this world. The turtle represents Turtle Island, or North America, the home of the original people. It is depicted with a Medicine Wheel on its back, the tool Indigenous people use to give offerings of thanks.

Cote’s work is “woodland style” and as an artist he has taken inspiration from Norval Morrisseau, a contemporary Indigenous artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation.

This particular piece is now part of the growing number of pieces around campus by Indigenous artists. Last October the university unveiled a large-scale public art piece celebrating Indigenous placemaking, “Paisajes de Nosotros (Landscapes of Us), and “The Ring” was installed on campus in September 2021.  “Morning Star and the Eastern Doorway” will live in a boardroom in the dean’s office on the sixth floor in the Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Studies in Community Health (SHE).

FCS dean, Kiaras Gharabaghi, said the piece will stand as a reminder that there are different ways of understanding. It will prompt faculty, students and staff to challenge their types and depths of knowledge while they meet in the boardroom that is now home to Cote’s work.