Untitled (Dancing Loons)

Roger Kakepetum is an artist from Sandy Lake First Nation, Ontario, who works within the Woodland School of Art tradition. Born in northern Ontario, Kakepetum is part of a second generation of Indigenous artists who built upon the foundation established by pioneering figures like Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray, and Jackson Beardy during the 1960s and early 1970s. His work continues the Woodland School's tradition of depicting sacred stories, spiritual figures, and animals through visual art, representing cultural narratives that had not previously been portrayed in this medium.

The Woodland School emerged when Morrisseau's work gained recognition in Toronto in 1962, followed by successful exhibitions by artists including Daphne Odjig and Alex Janvier in Winnipeg a decade later. This artistic movement serves as both an expression of cultural identity and a means of cultural renewal, employing traditional symbols and values as tools for community restoration—a practice that Indigenous archaeology suggests has historical precedent in times of cultural crisis. As Kakepetum and his contemporaries continue this artistic tradition, they participate in an ongoing dialogue about Indigenous identity and experience in contemporary society.