Slipping the settler-colonial gaze: rock paintings and Anishinaabeg iconological sovereignty

In this article, I analyze ancestral Anishinaabeg rock paintings of the Canadian Shield. I challenge traditional iconographic and iconological priorities focused on deciphering static meanings, instead proposing a framework centered on the relational and ontological dimensions of the artworks. Drawing on Indigenous metaphysics and the iconic turn, my study examines how contemporary Anishinaabeg communities interpret the paintings. I approximate an Anishinaabeg iconology that is grounded in epistemic commitments to dream work, slipstreaming, and narrative ekphrasis. This methodology directly critiques the 'authoritative gaze' of settler-colonial art history (Skinner 2014) and advocates for an iconological sovereignty that aligns with Anishinaabeg temporalities and ontologies. Ultimately, by decentering settler-state narratives, this article reveals the rock paintings as active participants in ongoing Anishinaabeg lifeways, fulfilling crucial metaphysical and political roles. This work reframes the past not as a fixed archive, but as a dynamic source of new understandings in the present and inspiration for the future.