Come and See, Culture Oppressed by Brent Henry

This campaign is to raise funds for a community purchase of two significant pieces of art by artist Brent Henry from his “Come and See |
Culture Oppressed” exhibition, running at Southampton Arts  from June 14 - July 4. 

Brent has created an impactful collection examining the history and continued impacts of the Indian Residential School system. The two
pieces of work, “Product of Canada” and “Still Missing” will be purchased from Southampton Arts (the hosts of the exhibition),...who have
also agreed  to waive their commission so that 100 % of the proceeds go to Brent Henry.

In turn, the two pieces will be donated to the Tom Thomson Art Gallery  in Owen Sound who have agreed to accept them into their
permanent collection, ensuring that these important works of art by a talented emerging, local artist will remain available to the public.
The work will be donated under the name "Supporters of Brent Henry". 

Any funds raised above the purchase price will be donated directly to Brent Henry in support of his emerging art career.

About Brent Henry

Born in Owen Sound and raised in Southampton by my mother Marian from Newfoundland, father Rory from Saugeen First Nation and my brother Brendan.

I have always enjoyed creating art but started to take it more serious in my teenage years. After high school I have worked throughout my community while pursuing my love to create.

I have always been drawn to art because I enjoy expressing emotions from the world around me. I feel it helps me deal with anxiety and depression because I can organize all of my thoughts onto one surface. Most things influence my art, from film to music, and current events
to personal situations. I love expressing myself with paint but I have also used video, photography, and writing.

I’ve received a couple awards throughout high school such as Senior Art Award and the Curators Choice Award from the Owen Sound Artist Co-op in 2013. Since then I've just been creating for myself, family and friends.

Recently I’ve had work displayed at the Southampton Art Gallery during summer of 2020, and I have been featured in the online series “Artists in their Studio” from Rrampt magazine.

Artist Statement

Come and See | Culture Oppressed is a look at Canadian Indian Residential Schools and how they impacted the children that attended them, the generations of parents and grandparents before them and every generation after, as well as Indigenous culture altogether.

The use of bright colour and child like drawings recreate what the children could have been feeling and drawing during this time. The heavy use of text throughout the works are meant to seem like several voices layered across time and history. My goal is discomfort, I want to
make the viewer feel uncomfortable, to force them to look at what’s being said. The rough and messy look of the paint references the dark history of Canada. Connecting issues from Indian Residential Schools to our time shows that what happened then, is still happening today and continues to impact Indigenous people.

The reference “Come and See” is from the Holy Bible. My idea behind this is that the Four Horseman: War, Death, Plague, and Famine have been brought upon Indigenous culture by the combined forces of Christianity and the government.

War: We are at war with ourselves. Fighting our mental illnesses. Fighting our addictions.

Death:The death of children at the residential schools. Our people are still dying from colonization. Suicide. Diabetes. Drug overdoses.

Plague: Tuberculosis was brought by the colonizers in the 1600’s and allowed to bring death throughout the residential schools. Current
health and drug issues on our reserves.

Famine: The children in the Residential Schools were fed poorly and cruelly, porridge and rancid scraps and spoiled food to keep costs down. Our food culture was punished, separating us from our traditional and sustainable ways of eating from the land. Land loss made hunting difficult, unable to move from location to location to ensure the care of Mother Earth. The lack of clean, safe water on many reserves.

The paintings and figures are not only showing the terrible effects and generational trauma from the Residential Schools but they also
show the incredible resilience of the Indigenous people. We are a struggling nation of people but we are a people of pride and
perseverance and we are determined to not let the horrors of the past break our people or culture.

Our people need time.

Our people need to heal.

Our young need guidance.

Detail “Product of Canada”

Product of Canada

Acrylic, Oil and paint Marker on Wood Panels

60” x 40”

This is an overall look of the history of Canadian residential schools. The children facing down one of the schools nuns, Sir John A.
Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson, and a RCMP officer. This piece was created on wooden panels. The children still have their long hair in this
painting. However you can see the scissors and a line with the words “cut here” referencing that these children are seen as products and not people. I left the children’s backs untouched by paint so the viewer can see the wood grain, representing the toughness of these children.

Detail “Still Missing”

Still Missing

Acrylic, Spray Paint, Oil Stick and Paint Marker on Canvas

48” x 48”

A young native girls face staring down the residential school system. Her hair is chopped, her clothes are stripped, and she’s hearing the
English language for the first time. During her time at the school she’s witness many children go missing. What happened to them? Maybe they ran away and nature took them. Were they killed by an instructor while being disciplined? Or they could have died from the poor diet and became sick. Don’t forget about suicide. Many children never returned home from the schools. For most of them we don’t know what happened. This is still going on with our missing and murdered indigenous women.

I’ve linked these two by placing the red hand print over the little girls mouth. The different patterns and lines are representing city and
subway maps, highways, forest areas and body’s of water. These are all places where these women could have been taken and where they
could have ended up. With lack of help from police services and cases being poorly investigated. We never know what happened to these women.

The little girl in this painting never lost hope, she made it through her years at the school. She grew up, and now she dances for all the
missing children, and the missing women, while wearing her jingle dress.