Kent Monkman | Miss Chief’s Praying Hands

Kent Monkman
Miss Chief’s Praying Hands (Red)
Toronto, Canada: Self-published, 2016
4.5” x 10.5”
Edition of 10 [+ 1 AP]

Praying hands made from the same silicone rubber, presumably, as sex toys. Also available in black, for $1,000.00 CDN, each, from Devan Patel's Project Gallery, where Monkman's exhibition of the same name is currently on view. Project Gallery is located at 1210 Dundas Street East, in Toronto, and the exhibition closes September 1st.


"Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry who creates provocative reinterpretations of romantic North American landscapes. Themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience – the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experience – are explored in a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance, and installation.

His gender fluid alter-ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle appears in his work, reversing the colonial gaze and upending received notions of history and Indigenous people.

Monkman describes Miss Chief Eagle Testickle as “a gender bending time-traveling two spirited alter ego” representing “the gender variance that was present in traditional indigenous cultures across North America when the settlers arrived. She embodies the flawed and playful trickster spirit to tease out the truths behind life’s painful twists and turns. She is central to my work, reversing the gaze and representing an empowered antidote to colonized sexuality.”

Project is a commercial art gallery and studio in Toronto that exhibits a critical selection of artists, whose work reflects new and innovative developments in contemporary art. It is located at 1210 Dundas Street East, in the heart of Leslieville with accompanying studios overlooking the Don Valley in Riverside."

- gallery press release

For more information, visit the gallery site here, or contact owner and director, Devan Patel at devan@projectgallery.ca.