07/28/2026
“I never learned beadwork at a kitchen table in Kahnawà:ke, but it found me anyway. The dotted details and shapes in my paintings are a tribute to the colour and intricacy of the beadwork delivered by the hands of my ancestors.” - Tom Tehohàhake Wilson
The figures in Tom Tehohàhake Wilson’s paintings are drawn from dreams and from reflections on his Mohawk identity. While his practice is personal and intuitive, the intricate detail he creates with oil pens near the end of his process brings the works to life, echoing the precision of Kahnawà:ke beadwork.
Tehohàhake Wilson was removed from his Mohawk mother at birth and adopted into a Hamilton family, where he was raised and currently resides. Today he is a member of the Mohawk Nation of Kahnawà:ke. He takes quiet, intentional care to spend time in his home community with family, where he is able to rebuild the life that was kept from him and reclaim the knowledge and traditions his adoption interrupted. In Kahnawà:ke, beadwork is rooted in family knowledge, community networks, and intergenerational skill, carrying family, story, and place across generations. For Tehohàhake Wilson, painting continues that inheritance, a way back to identity and blood memory.
Scroll through for images of beadwork in the artist’s personal collection.
Pictured here:
1. Tom Wilson Tehohàhake, Buffalo, 2026, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in.
2. Beadwork in the artist’s personal collection
3. Tom Wilson Tehohàhake, Blue Chief, 2026, oil on panel, 24 x 18 in.
