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In a world of fakes, who can you trust?
Award-winning Ojibwa playwright, author, journalist and filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor explores that question by diving into the high-stakes world of counterfeit Indigenous art in The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light, a provocative new play produced and presented by the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver this spring.
“Red Cadmium Light” paint was created in 1982. So when a painting attributed to legendary Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau is dated earlier than that — and contains the pigment — it can only mean one thing: it’s a fake.
Nazhi runs an art gallery on the Otter Lake First Nation, specializing in the work of Morrisseau and other renowned Indigenous artists. Her daughter Beverly is a respected Indigenous educator on the verge of a major career breakthrough. But when a reporter begins to dig into the world of counterfeit Indigenous art, a discovery is made that risks jeopardizing both women’s careers, and their relationship, forever.
The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light asks urgent questions about authenticity, identity and the cost of truth. The play runs from Saturday, April 18, to Sunday, May 3, at the Firehall theatre in Vancouver. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the Firehall’s website.
About Drew Hayden Taylor
Born and raised on the Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, Drew Hayden Taylor has done everything from performing standup comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to serving as artistic director of Canada's premier Indigenous theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. Over the years he has won many writing awards including the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award, has twice been nominated for the Governor General's Award — once for drama and once for fiction — and has been honoured with three honorary doctorates. His 38th novel, Sucker Falls, is scheduled to be released this fall. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
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