Adrian travels to Australia where he finds eerie similarities to Norval Morrisseau’s story. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, an Indigenous artist and Anmatyerre man from the Northern Territory, was a contemporary of Norval’s. Tjapaltjarri walks into a gallery and is surrounded by paintings signed by him…but he didn’t paint them. Bigger questions surface about how Indigenous art – and Indigenous people – are valued. Adrian reflects on his own art, and on the impact these forgeries have on Norval’s legacy.-------------Features: Kevin Hearn Norval Morrisseau, archival Inspector Jason RybakInspector Kevin Veilleux Eugene Morrisseau Gabe Vadas Vivien Johnson Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, archival
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21:59
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21:59
Episode 5: Under the Paint
Kevin’s court case kicks off a years-long police investigation. But as officers in Thunder Bay, known by some locals as “Murder Bay” because of its high homicide rates, finally look into the forgeries, they see a possible connection with a suspected murder. Finally, there are some answers and arrests. -----Features: Kevin Hearn Norval Morrisseau, archival Inspector Jason RybakInspector Kevin Veilleux Eugene Morrisseau
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28:21
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28:21
Episode 4: The Interveners
Kevin Hearn decides to take the dealer who sold him his painting to court. But this is no ordinary court case. The original dealer dies before the trial. And Kevin, along with his lawyer and witnesses, are stalked and harassed by people who stand to lose a lot of money if Kevin can prove his Morrisseau painting is a fake. Kevin needs to hire a bodyguard as the future of the court case teeters.----Features: Gabe Vadas Kevin Hearn Norval Morrisseau, archival Jonathan Sommer, Kevin Hearn’s lawyer Carmen Robertson
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25:19
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25:19
Episode 3: Norval Fights Back
Norval Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was still alive when forged paintings in his name started appearing. When he saw hundreds of paintings online “signed” by him that he knew he didn’t paint, he started to fight back. To trace the fakes, Adrian goes to Thunder Bay in northern Ontario, the suspected epicentre of the art frauds and a place Morrisseau once called home, to search for who is forging all these Morrisseaus. All signs point to one person. -----------Features: Gabe Vadas Kevin Hearn Norval Morrisseau, archival Jonathan Sommer, Kevin Hearn’s lawyer Tim Tait Lorraine Cull Carmen Robertson
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27:39
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27:39
Episode 2: The Signature
In a brush with death, Norval Morrisseau is given the name “Copper Thunderbird.” He learns to sign it in Cree syllabics, and writes it on his paintings. That artistic signature becomes a clue on the back of Kevin’s painting. There are other clues that lead to a jail where Norval was imprisoned (but still continued to paint) and to an old friend of Norval’s who sheds some light on what makes an authentic Norval Morrisseau painting. ----------Features: Kevin Hearn Gerald McMaster Norval Morrisseau, archival Eugene Morrisseau, Norval Morrisseau’s son Jonathan Sommer, Kevin Hearn’s lawyer Joseph Sanchez
Known as the "Picasso of the North," Norval Morriseau is one of the most celebrated Indigenous artists in the world. But when a rock star gets a tip about the authenticity of his Morrisseau painting, he finds a sinister underworld with thousands of forged paintings, millions of dollars in profits, multiple fraud rings, and even a suspected murder. In this six-part series, from CBC in Canada and ABC Australia, host Adrian Stimson, an artist from the Siksika Nation, travels from Thunder Bay to the Northern Territory of Australia, to reveal what's believed to be the largest art crime fraud in the world. Adrian questions what this story tells us about how Indigenous art, and lives, matter.Episodes release weekly starting October 15, 2025.
Canada - english