Akron Art Museum brings Kent Monkman’s powerful history paintings to the Midwest
The Akron Art Museum has opened a major exhibition, History Is Painted by the Victors, showcasing monumental works by internationally acclaimed Cree artist Kent Monkman. The exhibition reimagines traditional history painting, challenging colonial narratives and offering new perspectives on both past and present.
Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Denver Art Museum, the show has already received widespread acclaim during its tour. Akron is the only Midwest stop, giving regional audiences a rare opportunity to experience Monkman’s expansive body of work.
The exhibition is on view from April 11 – August 16, 2026.
The exhibition includes significant loans from major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as pieces from private collections. Known for their monumental scale and layered storytelling, Monkman’s paintings center voices often excluded from dominant historical narratives, particularly those of Indigenous and queer communities.
Through allegory, satire, and striking visual compositions, Monkman addresses urgent issues including climate change, the impact of government policies on Indigenous peoples, intergenerational trauma, and the affirmation of Two-Spirit, queer, and trans Indigenous identities. His works shift between scenes of oppression and resilience, blending sorrow, humor, pride, and celebration.
“I’m humbled to have a mid-career survey that spans over two decades of my work,” Monkman said in a statement. “Sharing this exhibition with audiences in Akron extends that recognition in powerful ways, allowing the works to resonate across borders and communities.”
Akron Art Museum CEO and Executive Director Jon Fiume said the exhibition aligns with the institution’s mission to present thought-provoking contemporary art. “Kent Monkman’s monumental works ask us to confront difficult truths while also creating space for reflection, humor, and resilience,” Fiume said. He added that hosting the exhibition carries particular significance given the museum’s location on lands historically connected to multiple Indigenous nations.
History Is Painted by the Victors underscores the enduring relevance of history painting as a contemporary medium—one that continues to evolve while challenging audiences to reconsider whose stories are told.
About the artist
Kent Monkman (born in 1965) is an interdisciplinary visual artist. A member of ocêkwi sîpiy (Fisher River Cree Nation) in Treaty 5 Territory (Manitoba), he lives and works in New York City and Toronto.
Known for his thought-provoking responses to Western European and American art history, Monkman explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience—the complexities of historical and contemporary Indigenous experiences—across painting, film/video, performance, and installation. Monkman’s gender-fluid alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, often appears in his work as a time-travelling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples.
Monkman’s painting and installation works have been exhibited at institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Royal Ontario Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Philbrook Museum of Art, Palais de Tokyo, and the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College. Monkman’s short film and video works, collaboratively made with Gisèle Gordon, have screened at festivals such as the Berlinale (2007, 2008) and the Toronto International Film Festival (2007, 2015). Monkman is an Officer of the Order of Canada (2023) and the recipient of the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2017), an honorary doctorate degree from OCAD University (2017), the Indspire Award (2014), and the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award (2014).
