The First
Man and The
First Woman
Philip Cote
It is a depiction of one of our oldest stories, The Anishinaabe Creation Story which was brought down through oral traditions and pictographic images drawn on birch-bark scrolls. This mural is in my own Contemporary Style of Woodland Painting and begins with The First Man and The First Woman and their sacred union and the beginning of The Creation Story.
It is said that The First Man (Waynaboozhoo) came down from the sky and was lowered and the first thing he did was to travel across the land and began naming everything, all the plants, all the trees, all the animals, all the insects, all the fish, and all the birds, etc. The Anishinaabe Elders say this is where our naming ceremony came from and this is also where our Anishinaabe language comes from. This is why all the animals have gathered around The First Man and The First Woman as a reminder of how our story is closely connected to all life on Earth.
- Thoughts on "Family" -
“Family is at the Heart of Every Healthy community. Without Family there is no sense of Identity. Family gives each and every one of us a sense Identity, a sense of belonging, a sense of responsibility, and a sense of peace.”
The First Man
and The First Woman
Philip Cote
Artist, Activist, Ancestral Knowledge Keeper & Historian
Moose Deer Point First Nation: Shawnee, Lakota, Potawatomi, and Ojibway.
Philip Cote, MFA is an Indigenous Artist, Educator, Historian and Knowledge Keeper and is a graduate of OCAD University’s IAMD Masters program.
Philip is engaged in creating opportunities for art-making and teaching methodologies through Indigenous symbolism, traditional ceremonies, history, oral stories, and land-based pedagogy.
A tour guide with “First Story”, Philip provides an Indigenous History of The Land dating back to 130,000 years.
Artist Info