Within the vast and expanding field of Indigenous visual art and culture there continues to be a difficult debate about what is considered ‘authentic’ Indigenous art. Traditional pre-contact art motifs, materials and styles as are viewed, particularly from a settler audience, as truly authentic Indigenous art. This stance is increasingly damaging to Canadian Aboriginal communities and artists. For this attitude that only art made before or within the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are genuine shuts down the validity of amazing contemporary Indigenous artist practicing today who are creating dynamic works within many different styles and mediums. This view also puts forward a notion that all true and authentic Indigenous cultures are in
