The Transformed Feather

Transformed Feather is composed of a combination of watercolour and collage on paper. The artist collected found objects, personal photographs, and childlike drawings, and glued them to the painting. She describes her style as ​“deconstructive, spiritual, political, non-political. It’s a little bit of everything, like chicken soup.” The energetic application of colourful paint, loose drawing style and glyphic writing have the air of being spontaneous and unaffected, yet are rich with symbolism and meaning.

According to Pamela McCallum, author of ​“Cultural Memories and Imagined Futures: The Art of Jane Ash Poitras”, the artist ​“combines representational strategies of postmodern art — collage, layering, overpainting, incorporation of found objects — with a deep commitment to the politics and issues common to indigenous peoples.”

This artwork uses Indigenous imagery with personal and spiritual significance to evoke an obscure narrative. A feather in the centre of the painting is surrounded by a triangular shape representing a teepee. Below it is a shaman figure, suggesting a spiritual transformation or ritual. Plains Cree syllabics are scrawled loosely, scratching into the surface of the paint, like a verse or incantation.

As in the rest of her body of work, she is a storyteller, and her art combines disparate ideas and images to express the artist’s unique worldview.