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Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau
In Honour to Fathers and Children
of Our People
by Norval Morrisseau,
courtesy of the Kinsman Robinson Gallery, Toronto
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"Morrisseau was committed, from the
very start, to preserving the stories and myths of his people,"
says writer/director Paul Carvalho. "He never wavered.
As troubled as his life was, he also went through it with
this incredible sense of mission." Morrisseau is
the founder of a new style, the Woodland school of painting,
which today informs the work of hundreds of native artists
in Canada and the United States.
The film has full access to Morrisseau, who at the age of
73 lives in a Nanaimo residence and is confined to a wheelchair.
Some of the key moments in the last two decades of his life
are told through the eyes of Gabor Vadas, the former street
kid who became Morrisseau’s closest friend and business
manager. Vadas speaks at length about their encounter on the
streets of Vancouver in 1987, during a dark period in which
Morrisseau was purposely homeless and drinking more than ever.
Their bond was strong enough to change the course of Morrisseau’s
life, giving the artist a full decade without drink or drugs
in which he produced some of his very best work. This film
is a startlingly intimate witness to the struggle between
Morrisseau’s creative powers and his pursuit of self-destruction.
Original Air Date - February 24, 2005
Links
Norval
Morrisseau: Kinsman Robinson Galleries
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