ABSTRACT
This chapter engages notions of narrativity and performativity grounded in Indigenous ontologies utilizing examples of contemporary Indigenous art to organize a systematic set of observations that articulates culturally significant theoretical principles. Robertson argues that story as art offers a framework for considering the difficult task of organizing, informing, and guiding, or in other words, theorizing about contemporary Indigenous arts, situating “story” from noun to verb to the process of imagining and formulating Indigenous art histories. Interconnected with other ways of knowing, in the context of making art, performative gestures and visual narrative grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing offer direction to convey the complexities of formulating theoretical direction in relation to storytelling with regard to contemporary Canadian works of art. Robertson examines how the telling of a story involves much more than simply an oral narration within Indigenous cultural contexts. Song, dance, performance, oratory, enactment of intergenerational knowledge, and ceremony, all contribute to the artful spectacle of narrative. Performance and performative storytelling have long supported transmission of knowledge, and today Indigenous visual and performance artists continue to create art in which story remains a vital feature.
