Biography

Dominic Lafontaine is an Algonquin artist, poet, filmmaker and musician from Timiskaming First Nation. Possessing a degree in visual arts from the University of Ottawa, he seeks to blend his knowledge of Indigenous art history with new media to redefine the substance and aesthetic language of contemporary Anishnaabe art. His motto: “Research, remix and repeat”. He actively engages in his community in as a member of various cultural organizations within his region. He has exhibited in several centers and museums in Abitibi-Timiskaming and Montréal. He also taken part in digital art residencies in Quebec, British Columbia, Belgium, Israel and Barcelona. His short films have been shown in Quebec and Ontario at various festivals, including Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. His humorous and daring works explore notions of identity, meaning and cultural belonging. Some of his works are now part of public collections.

Morrifaux (2023)

With the idea of merging his knowledge of Indigenous art history with the language of new media and redefining the substance and aesthetic lexicon of contemporary Anishnaabe art, Dominic Lafontaine has conceived the series MORRIFAUX, utilizing artificial intelligence. The images, generated by digital machines, are based on works by the world-famous Anishnaabe artist Norval Morrisseau, founder of the Woodland style, embraced by many artists, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. The MORRIFAUX body of work deals with the concepts of style and identity in Indigenous art, and explores the notion of digital authorship, recurrence and the authenticity of art within the public domain. In March 2023, Ontario police officers uncovered three groups of counterfeiters, seizing more than 1,200 fraudulent works imitating this style. This is the biggest scandal to impact the art market in Canada. Counterfeiting and plagiarism of the creations of Indigenous artists accentuate the vulnerability of the identity of historically oppressed cultures.