Kent Monkman’s cosmic tableau centers on his alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, floating amidst a fiery sun, Earth and gentle pink clouds. A figure transforming into Wîsahkêcâhk, the trickster spirit and elder brother, rises toward her, while rainbow-hued pterodactyl-like elders hover overhead. This vibrant Renaissance-style scene reimagines Indigenous cosmology, queerness and cultural resilience – envisioning a universe where ancestral wisdom, humor, and transformation resist colonial erasure.

Drawing from Cree creation stories of pâkwan kîsik—“the hole in the sky,” a portal beyond time and space – the painting connects past, present, and future, weaving spiritual and earthly realms. Monkman challenges Eurocentric artistic conventions and asserts Indigenous sovereignty through a riot of color, myth and symbolism.