The Great Migration of the Ojibwa People depicts the Seven Fires Prophecy, traditionally taught to practitioners of Midewiwin, that inform and narrate the historic five hundred year migration of the Ojibweg from the Northeastern shores area of North America to the Great Lakes region. The first prophet divined that the Anishinaabe nation would follow the Sacred Shell of the Midewiwin Lodge toward a turtle shaped island that would be the first of seven stopping places during the migration. Central to the prophecy is that the chosen ground will be known by its abundance of “food that grows on water” or manoomin (wild rice). The Migration story is one that became an enduring source of invention for Morrisseau (see online references for details), but the present canvas – which stretches nearly eight feet in length – surely ranks amongst the most important accomplishments of the subject by the artist.

Painted in 1989, The Great Migration of the Ojibwa People offers a triumphant depiction of the oral tradition as well as affording viewers the exquisite pleasure of beautiful, unabashed colour. In a sunbathed two-toned body of water, members of the Anishinaabe nation populate the five canoes suspended on its placid surface, and travel westward. The canoes are painted with a decidedly looser brush that, when coupled with their bright and tonal yellow-orange colours, imitates the texture of birch bark. While each is decorated, the two vessels in the foreground display a series of dots and dashes that signify the stitch-work of their seams. The canoe on the left, which seems to lead the expedition, notably illustrates the turtle painted on its bow.

The occupants of the canoes vary considerably from boat to boat. We note several small children and even one dog. Several of the figures wear elaborate headdresses that reference the Anishanaabe doodeman (also toodaims or clans), including birds, a bear, and fish. From the underside of the canoe at the top right emerges a fishtail from the figure at the rear. When coupled with other visual cues — namely that his paddle reads more like Morrisseau’s depictions of sacred staffs and that top and lower registers of the lines of communication (see references) that connect the divided circles, sprout from the paddle's tip — we read this figure as a powerful shaman, propelling this group ever forward.

Beyond the still, pooled water, pine trees dot the land in the distance. In the foreground, flanking the canoes closest to us, is a throng of animals — including birds, fish, and a lone frog — swimming about in a carnival of colours alongside the vessels. An epic work of painterly bravura, The Great Migration of the Ojibwa People is a treasure trove of visual delights. Its exhilarating palette and dense, inspired imagery unite to convey a mood of historic importance and spiritual power.

References: For an account of The Migration tradition and the Seven Fires, see Edward Benton-Banai, The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway, (St. Paul, MN: Indian Country Press, 1988), pp. 89ff. For works of the same subject see: Migration (The Great Flood), 1973, is illustrated in Lister Sinclair and Jack Pollock, The Art of Norval Morrisseau, (Toronto: Methuen Publications, 1979), p. 95, as “Collection of Noranda Mines, Toronto”. It is interesting to note that Morrisseau, through Pollock’s filtered authorship, describes the scene as individuals sailing across the Bering Strait after a great flood. It is also interesting to note the conflation of the Anishinaabe creation story with the Migration story, likely as a result of the growing Pan-Indianism movement at the time of its publication. See also Migrating, 1978, reproduced in Sinclair / Pollock, The Art of Norval Morrisseau, 1979, p. 152, as “Collection of Mr and Mrs Michael Landauer”; as well as Untitled (Migration), c. 1994, reproduced in Greg Hill et al., Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2006), cat. no. 47, reproduced p. 154-155, “Collection of Gabe and Michele Vadas.” Morrisseau’s The Great Migration of 1992 is the painting by the artist that is most similar to our example; it is illustrated in Norval Morrisseau: Travels to the House of Invention, (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1997), pp. 30-31. At 48 x 85 inches, that painting is slightly smaller than this version and rather less complex, but it is still monumental; it is discussed by Armand Garnet Ruffo in The Thunderbird Poems, (Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., 2015), p. 86-87. Ruffo described the 1992 painting in a way that is much similar to ours, “Morrisseau did numerous paintings based on this story. This version shows four canoes, and in one of them is a family, and among the family is the artist himself” (p. 86). For a discussion on the headdresses and Shamanism in Morrisseau’s art, see Greg Hill et al., Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist, (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2006), pp. 36. For a depiction of the Sacred Staff, see Self Portrait, 1975, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, ON, Object no. 1981.87.2, accessed 10 April 2023. See Heidi Bohaker, “Anishinaabe Toodaims: Context for Politics, Kinship, and Identity in the Eastern Great Lakes,” in Gathering Places: Aboriginal and Fur Trade Histories, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010), pp.99-100 for additional information on Anishinaabe toodaims. Although it did not make it into Pollock’s Book (op. cit), in the drafts of the text, when discussing a work entitled, First Son of the Objiway Loon Totemic Clan, we read, “All Ojibways had totems of animals, fish and birds. The ancestors of Norval Morrisseau’s direct ancestor Little Grouse were Assiniboine or Stony Indians of the Canadian Plains. Their totem was the Great Grizzly Bear of the Plains.” See Norval Morrisseau File at the E.P. Taylor Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, On, LA.SC154.S6.f9, 11-13, “Author’s Notes.”