Q

Tom Wilson uses painting to explore his new-found Indigenous roots

Tom Wilson was in his mid-fifties when he learned that the parents who raised him were not his birth parents and that his biological mother was a family friend from the Kahnawake reserve. Now, Wilson is exploring his Indigenous heritage through painting.
Musician and visual artist Tom Wilson. (Marta Hewson)

Tom Wilson was in his mid-fifties​ when he learned that the parents who raised him were not his birth parents, and that his biological mother was a family friend from the Kahnawake reserve.

You might know Wilson best as the guitarist and vocalist of Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings or from his other band Lee Harvey Osmond. Today, Wilson stops by q to talk to Tom Power about exploring his new-found Indigenous heritage through a different artistic medium: painting.

Wilson's new exhibit, Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunters, and Chiefs opens tonight at the The Art Gallery of Burlington and runs until January 27, 2019. 

— Produced by Vanessa Nigro

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