Conversations on Carl Beam’s The Columbus Suite

The seminar-based course, VPHC75: The Artist, Maker, Creator, investigates constructions of artistic identity. In the winter of 2025, the course, taught by Alexander Irving, focused on the late Ojibway artist, Carl Migwans Beam(1943 -2005), one of the most consequential Canadian artists of the latter 20th century. Born in M’Chigeeng on Manitoulin Island, Ontario of Anishinaabe heritage, Beam was instrumental in challenging the marginalization of Indigenous art in Canada. The Doris McCarthy Gallery stewards twenty seven works by Carl Beam, including twelve large etchings that comprise The Columbus Suite, his most influential series; these works and the DMG team’s expertise in providing access and interpretation around them, formed a core component of the course. 

Included in this course was a half-day symposium, Conversations about Carl Beam's The Columbus Suite, organized and presented by the Doris McCarthy Gallery with support from the Department of Arts, Culture & Media and Indigenous Initiatives. The symposium was opened and closed by Elder Josh Eshkawkogan and featured a keynote presentation by Carl’s daughter, Anong Migwans Beam, and a conversation between artist Bonnie Devine and Alexander Irving. The symposium was also open to the public; lunch was provided.

ABOUT THE COLUMBUS SUITE

Carl Beam’s The Columbus Suite (1990) was created in anticipation of the 1992 public celebrations of the quincentennial of Christopher Columbus’ arrival to North America. Reflecting on five hundred years of colonialism, Beam’s ambitious series juxtaposes martyrs—Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King—with Indigenous resistance fighters Louis Riel, Poundmaker, and Sitting Bull. The Columbus Suite confronts the prevailing colonial narrative, drawing viewers to connect images and uncover Indigenous realities. By pairing images from his family history with well-known cultural figures, Beam dissolves notions of time and space to deconstruct linear perceptions of history and highlight the ongoing impacts of colonialism.

Carl Beam (1943-2005) was an Ojibwe artist from M’Chigeeng on Manitoulin Island. He is the first contemporary Indigenous artist whose work was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada and is a leading figure within Canadian contemporary art.

Generously donated to the Doris McCarthy Gallery in 2024, The Columbus Suite is on view on the 3rd Floor of the Sam Ibrahim Building, U of T Scarborough, 1050 Military Trail. The building is open Monday-Saturday, 8 am-10 pm, and is wheelchair accessible.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Anong Migwans Beam is a painter, art historian, and arts administrator from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. She was born to artist parents Carl Beam and Ann Beam and was raised with a meaningful connection to her artistic familial roots and rich ancestral heritage. Alongside her art practice, Beam has been actively involved in her local community and in curatorial work and teaching.

Bonnie Devine is a member of the Serpent River First Nation, an Anishinaabe/Ojibwe territory in central Ontario on the north shore of Lake Huron. She is an installation artist, painter, curator, writer, and educator. Her work emerges from a deep interest in and commitment to the storytelling and pictorial traditions that are central to the history and development of Anishinaabe culture. These interests are central to her art practice and are expressed in image and object, video and teaching, storytelling and political ideas.

Elder Josh Eshkawkogan is a Traditional Healer, Knowledge Keeper, Pipe Carrier, Sweat Lodge Conductor, Anishinaabe language speaker, orator, and cultural teachings provider. He is a descendant of Chief Ozawanimiki and a member of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve, home of the Three Fires Confederacy.

Alexander Irving was born in Ottawa on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory. An artist and educator, he has exhibited his work nationally and internationally and is a recipient of awards from the Ontario, Toronto, and Canada Councils. Irving currently teaches in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Toronto, Scarborough.