Wedding at Sodom 2017

Editor: So, here we have Kent Monkman’s “Wedding at Sodom,” painted in 2017 using, it seems, mixed media on canvas. The piece has so many figures in it, and there's a clash of styles; it's vibrant but unsettling. What can you tell me about this provocative painting? Curator: What's fascinating to me is how Monkman uses oil paint, a medium historically associated with the documentation and glorification of colonial power, to disrupt and subvert those very narratives. How do you interpret his appropriation of landscape and history painting conventions? Editor: I see how he’s reusing the techniques and materials of the colonizers to tell a different story, a story of Indigenous experiences, desires, and resistance. It feels like he’s trying to reclaim agency in the representation of his own community, almost a form of artistic activism? Curator: Precisely. Consider also the labor involved in creating such a large-scale work. The sheer time and skill required underscores the dedication to his message, which is to critique the history painting genre. Who, in the painting, seems to you to bear the weight of history? Editor: I'm drawn to the figures on the edges. The piece asks you to reflect on their stories, to challenge accepted narratives, and understand the complex interplay of materials, labor, and cultural representation in the making of art, and history. Thank you. Curator: Indeed. Examining the materiality and production process sheds light on the power dynamics at play and helps to re-evaluate whose stories are told and how they are remembered through art. It makes you reconsider painting's cultural relevance, doesn’t it?