One of the best Indigenous-themed books to be released as film

By Sam Laskaris

BUFFALO LAKE MÉTIS SETTLEMENT – Bruce Barry is thrilled that he had a change of heart.

The Métis/Anishinabee artist was contacted more than a year ago to see if he had interest in producing a painting for Indian Horse.

The novel Indian Horse, written by the late Richard Wagamese, and first published in 2012, is considered one of the best Indigenous-themed books.

The fictional novel follows the life of Saul Indian Horse who survives the horrors of residential school and whose life is partly saved by his exploits as an elite hockey player.

Indian Horse has now been made into a movie. The Canadian release date is scheduled for April 13.

In conjunction with the movie, Douglas & McIntyre, the original publishers of the novel, are re-releasing the book, complete with a new cover.

That cover, which is also being utilized as the movie poster, was completed by Barry over a three-month period.

Barry is from the Sandy Bay First Nation in Manitoba but now lives on Alberta’s Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement.

“Frankly, at first I was hesitant,” Barry said of his initial contact with officials who were interested to see if he would be willing to submit artwork which would then be considered for the movie poster and new book cover of Indian Horse. “I had read the book and I didn’t think I wanted to do it.”

Barry’s hesitance stemmed not only from Indian Horse’s dark themes, but also from the fact that he felt he could not contribute to the brilliantly written novel.

“I was hesitant at first because I thought how do you match the intensity of Richard’s work,” Barry said. “I didn’t want everybody to roll their eyes and say ‘what the hell is this?’.”

Two other Indigenous artists were also asked to submit artwork for consideration. Barry decided to make a submission after officials sent him a copy of the movie script for him to look over.

“It was so daunting,” he said. “By page 10 of the script I was committed to doing it.”

And Barry is now more than happy not only that his artwork was selected, but also with how it looks.

“Story matters,” he said. “Us Indigenous people are a people of stories. We have a thousand stories. This painting is just one of them.”

Barry had met Wagamese, an Ojibwe from northern Ontario’s Wabaseemoong First Nation, about a decade ago at an event in Calgary.

“He was such a nice guy and so kind,” Barry said of Wagamese, who died last March at the age of 61.

Barry also travelled to Toronto last September. He was part of the Indian Horse contingent at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Indian Horse had its world premiere.

Barry gets emotional talking about the fact Wagamese was not present and didn’t get to see the movie.

“In a way, everybody wishes Richard was still here,” he said.

Besides a new cover, the re-release of the novel Indian Horse includes Barry’s bio as well as his statement about the painting.

It reads as follows:
“Richard’s words and storytelling gift were the inspiration for this painting, which is a representation of a young Indigenous face inscribed with symbols found on our Ojibway birch bark scrolls—his inheritance of rooted spiritual lineage makes his face itself a vessel for ancestral insight. The blues and reds reflect medicine lodge ceremonies. Shadows, as if cast by a thousand campfires, reach out into the darkness from the face, representing inner gifts of power and understanding that allow Saul to come home to his community, an imperfect human living a noble life. The animals over and around the eyes depict male and female aspects of the face of the Creator. Creating this artistic response was a welcome challenge which I am honoured to have been given.”