Daphne Odjig was one of the most important Indigenous artists of the twentieth century and a groundbreaking figure in Canadian art. Born on the Wikwemikong Reserve on Manitoulin Island, Odjig was of Odawa-Potawatomi-English heritage. Encouraged to draw from a young age, she gravitated naturally towards a life in art. Though her early influences were largely European, her style evolved over time to incorporate Anishinaabe world views, personal memory and modernist experimentation, resulting in a singular and powerful visual language.

Rhythm of the Northern Lights from 1983 is a compelling example of Odjig’s mature style and spiritual vision. Richly coloured and densely composed, the painting features a cluster of curving figures rendered in her signature bold lines and saturated hues. The forms flow into one another, creating a sense of unity, spiritual connection and shared experience. There is no single focal point; instead, the viewer is drawn into a visual rhythm that mirrors both the energy of the natural world and the interconnectedness of human relationships.

This work was created during a period of heightened recognition and creative intensity for Odjig. That same year, she participated in the National Native Indian Artists Symposium in Ksan, British Columbia, an event that marked a turning point in her career. Works from this period often exhibit a shift towards immersive, layered compositions in which figures and landscape merge as one. Rhythm of the Northern Lights exemplifies this approach. The figures seem to pulse with movement, evoking not only physical presence but also spiritual transformation.

Odjig’s fascination with distortion and layered imagery plays a central role in this piece. As she explained in her book A Paintbrush in My Hand, “I loved to distort things.… Picasso distorted. Ever since I was a child I elongated necks and always did faces over on top of others. But for me that had a [cultural] meaning to it.… One face emerging from another would be like the spirit of that person leaving that individual.” In Rhythm of the Northern Lights, this sensibility is vividly expressed as the figures appear to dissolve into one another, their overlapping forms suggesting ancestral presence, memory and spiritual continuity.

Odjig’s paintings often explore themes of family, womanhood and community. Here, her deep respect for relational bonds is not conveyed through literal narrative, but through an abstract visual harmony that speaks to resilience and belonging. At the same time, her confident manipulation of scale, space and form places her within the modernist canon.

Throughout her career, Odjig challenged cultural and aesthetic boundaries. In 1971, she opened Canada’s first Indigenous-owned commercial art gallery, and in 1973, co-founded Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. Her work synthesized diverse influences—Northwest Coast design, pictographic traditions and Cubist fragmentation—into a bold and expressive style that was always deeply personal and culturally grounded. Rhythm of the Northern Lights embodies her singular vision: a vibrant expression of Indigenous identity, alive with movement, memory and spiritual force.

For the biography on Dr. Luigi Rossi in PDF format, please click here.