Indigenous Storytelling by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

Lawrence Paul Yuxwelptun is a unique surrealist indigenous painter or, with his own description for himself, a history painter who created a unique way of storytelling for his ideals; and whose works mostly focused on political subjects such as environmentalism and the oppression of the indigenous people deprived of their rights. Moreover, as an activist and strongly protest person Yuxwelptun briefly describes his way of storytelling as a job and, during an interview, describes this job as; “It’s part of my job description as an artist to enlighten the world, to entertain the world, to record the history of the world. My job is also to piss everybody off, to critique the world, to mirror history back to the world.” (Alcalay) Yet, it could be understood by any viewer that, no matter how modern or post-modern techniques were used by Yuxwelptun while enlightening or entertaining the world, recording or mirroring the history of the world; in other words, while creating his indigenous way of storytelling, he always stays connected to traditional roots in every part of his production process.

Firstly, in order to understand how he conveys his ideas or stories his style of painting should be analyzed. Two of his most famous paintings Red Man Watching White Man Trying to Fix the Hole in the Sky and Fucking Creeps They’re Environmental Terrorists can be taken as best examples. Alongside surrealistic features, in Red Man Watching White Man Trying to Fix the Hole in the Sky, as a classic romantic feature, the Canadian landscape can be noticed, yet, in a different way than the Group of Seven, as Christina Ritchie explains: “It has been said that Yuxweluptun uses the entire Canadian landscape tradition as an archive from which to construct a counter-narrative to the familiar one that links psychic possession of the landscape with the construction of a national identity propagated by the Group of Seven, though in a more general sense he takes issue with the popular myth that Canada was carved out of the wilderness. In Yuxweluptun’s world, the land is never unseen or unlived. To make it so means dispossession for his people. Unlike Group of Seven works, his landscapes are always populated with figures who are usually engaged in activities that express their relationship to the land.” (Ritchie) Moreover, the depiction of European man, especially in the second example, is important because Yuxwelptun not only keeps the traditional animal-like ovoid faces, and paints their clothing in modern capitalist fashion, such as suits and lab-coats, but also in Fucking Creeps They’re Environmental Terrorists paints their tongues are snake-like in order to convey cunning colonialist manners.

After understanding his style and depiction the viewer can focus on the main subjects of his storytelling. Yuxwelptun’s focused subjects can be gathered under three main titles, which are the oppression of indigenous people and their heritage, environmentalism and the effects of colonialists on the environment, and lastly, religious aspects of indigenous storytelling. Firstly, when his painting Land Claim Negotiation Delegates has analyzed the subject of oppression can be noticed. When the painting is divided into two, colonialists and natives, the observer can notice the landscape is painted with faces, which can be accepted as a symbol of the ancestors of the indigenous people who are actually the owners of this land, but on the other hand at the left side, the colonialists gathered on one on the top of the other like a new totem for indigenous people to worship, which also can be a symbol of the European countries queued for a piece of land to colonize. Secondly, where the subject of environmentalism and the effects of colonialists on the environment can be noticed are the paintings Red Man Watching White Man Trying to Fix the Hole in the Sky and Fucking Creeps, They’re Environmental Terrorists again. While in the former the lab-coated colonialists or scientists are depicted as trying to fix the sky that they tore apart in the letter colonialists again polluting the soil with petrol, yet there is a matter of fact that should be recognized, in both, the colonialists are on the lands of the indigenous people, so the viewer can understand that Yuxwelptun’s idea that who is the owner of the land and who is the destructor of the land. Hereupon, the last subject is the religious aspects of both Yuxwelptun’s and indigenous storytelling that can be understood. In all the exemplary paintings Yuxwelptun either depicts the indigenous people as a part of the land or strongly connected to their land, for this reason, the sanctity of land is a solid fact that must be noticed in his works of art; or else, the language of his works cannot be understood as he told: “When the natives see the work, they understand it—it is natural for them to read these forms, where for a European it isn’t. Europeans have to understand the language of what I’m doing, and only then can they understand what it creates in a painting. You know, when I make a forest, the natives look at it and go, “Whoa, man. This feels like the love of every tree that I have.” I feel like I’ve been here 10,000 years, 20,000 years. And I have. I capture all of that.” (Alcalay)

As Julia Skelly said, “Yuxwelptun has produced various dreamscapes in the style of Salvador Dali that are strong political commentaries.” (Skelly) To sum up, the storytelling of Yuxwelptun can be analyzed under three main titles: his drawing style, his chosen protest subjects, and his religious roots. By using these titles, his way of criticizing the world, or with his own words, mirroring back the history of the world can be accepted as a manner of storytelling that uses modern and post-modern art, adhering to the traditions inherited from his ancestors.

Works Cited

Ritchie, Christina, et al. “On a Good Day: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.” Canadian Art, 5 June 2018, https://canadianart.ca/features/lawrence-paul-yuxweluptun-stands-his-ground/.

“Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun by Ammiel Alcalay - Bomb Magazine.” Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun - BOMB Magazine, https://bombmagazine.org/articles/lawrence-paul-yuxweluptun/.

“Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lawrence-paul-yuxweluptun.

Pechawis, Archer. “Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Retrospective.” Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun | Retrospective, 10 May 2007, https://lawrencepaulyuxweluptun.com/retrospective.html#null.