Megan “Guná” Jensen 
2025 Longlist
Artist Bio
Guná is of Dakhká Tlingit/Tagish Khwáan Ancestry from the Dahk’laweidi Clan. She honours her ancestral Tlingit art form while merging formline into a bold contemporary vision. Trained by masters like William Wasden and Mike Dangeli, and educated at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, she channels her culture into art that challenges and confronts, shaping her unique approach to visual storytelling. Her work, recognized with awards like the William and Meredith Sanderson Prize for Emerging Canadian Artists, has been shown in galleries across Canada. Guná has shared her knowledge through lectures and workshops at institutions such as Princeton, Emily Carr, and Stellenbosch, where she explores themes of cultural theft, decolonization, healing. For Guná, art is activism—a call to respect, protect, and empower. Guná is committed to utilizing her art as a powerful voice for Tlingit sovereignty, therefore inviting audiences to honour Indigenous resilience.
Artist Statement
Guná’s practice powerfully intertwines ancient Lingít designs with the historical context of oil painting, a medium deeply associated with European art history. This fusion creates a compelling irony, illuminating the complex discourse between Indigenous and non-Indigenous narratives. Indigenous communities are navigating a paradox of reclaiming and healing while simultaneously addressing their relationship with a colonized world. Guna’s paintings embody this tension, reflecting the reality that we cannot return to a time before the devastations of colonialism. She does however, boldly demonstrate how we can interrogate and intervene. In her oil paintings, she incorporates complex Tlingit formline rich with historical weight and context, at times directly referencing the most famous painters of our century.
Despite the ongoing colonial project that seeks to assert supremacy over Indigenous ways of knowing and being, Guná resiliently advances her voice without seeking permission. As a method to disrupt the colonial gaze and recenter the viewer in Lingít narratives, Guná shares a rich Lingít worldview through her striking art forms, determined to convey the stories of her ancestors while documenting the stories of our time. “Since time immemorial, our people have been malleable to change. Had they not embraced this, we simply would no longer exist. This is about telling their story, but it is also about documenting our contemporary moment. We do this through stories, art, song, dance, and language for all future generations to come.” – Guná
"Raven Appropriating Picasso Who Appropriated African Art and Honestly Was Just a Misogynist"
2024, Oil on Canvas, 36″ x 48″
Show More
You may not be aware of the extent of Picasso’s dark past. Picasso’s art career highly capitalized on women that to him were deemed “Either goddesses or doormats.” For decades the public have praised an artist that deliberately appropriated cultural art forms that he described as “Primitive”. The result of his bizarre and disturbing perceptions of culture and women is revealed in “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”. A painting depicting naked women in a brothel, with half of their heads replaced with African masks. In “Raven Appropriating Picasso Who Appropriated African Art and Honestly Was Just a Misogynist,” I ask; How much morality and ethics are we willing to negotiate at the cost of aesthetically pleasing art made by a famous European name? In this work, Raven encourages us to reconsider.
"Yéil"
2021. Film, Snow Instillation, 4 kilometres around, 300 feet across and covers an area of 1.62 acres, Marsh Lake, Yukon Territory
Show More
In this short film, Guná narrates the story of how Raven brought light to the world. Following the narration, Guná creates a larger than life scale formline design of raven, created entirely from snowshoeing.
"Consent is Sacred"
2024, Graphic Design
Show More
As Tlingit people, our ancestors had their way of dealing with the violation of consent. These laws never died, they reverberate, now and forever. This design showcases two hands that are together and connected, but not touching. Underneath the hands, a cedar branch sits. Common in many northwest coast communities, cedar is known to have healing and spiritual powers. In this design, the cedar is used for the message of healing and also for protection. “Consent is Sacred” is an act of solidarity. To honour this statement and to wear it, is to tell the world that we will not tolerate anything less. Say it again, “Consent is Sacred”.
“The Healer”
2024, Oil on canvas, 6 x 4 ft
Show More
This painting symbolizes a near death experience. There was a time I has been drowning in grief, and I was lost. It does not feel right to tell this story in its entirety, but I will share that this experience involved s’axt (devils club). This is considered to be a very powerful medicine for many nations, including my own. The interaction I had with this medicine was utterly terrifying, but then it liberated me. This medicine opened the door for true healing, and set me on a trajectory in life that has transformed me into a straight arrow. Meaning, living a life that no one can take away from me. These arrows are represented in the mouths of the beings of the painting. And the being at the bottom, represents the s’axt (devils club). The large being has wings underneath their hands, symbolizing that the s’axt (devils club) has set them free from grief. If you look closely in the “background”, the elements are moving outward from the s’axt (devils club) being, representing poison being released from the body. For me, releasing “The Healer” into the world marks a new time. I am certain that there will be more immense challenges yet to come in life, but at least I hold the wisdom of the s’axt to bare them. I hope this painting will evoke serenity for others, as it has done for me.
Kéet awsik'ít' wé tlax ḵúnáx sh idzixá ni ḵáa. “The Killerwhale Eats the Narcissist Whole”
2023, Oil on canvas, 36″ x 24″
Show More
The narcissist attempts to reach for safety with its claws. But cannot escape their fate. The Killerwhale swims up from the bottom of the frame, fulfilling a long awaited justice. This works is an ode to anyone who has ever been a victim to a narcissist. The painting expresses grief, but also narrates the journey of one taking back their sacred power.
"Self Portrait"
2019, Oil on canvas, 5 x 4 ft
Show More
From behind, the embers emerge both passion and anger. In the foreground, a human figure stands as the centrepiece. From one foot, they propel from the ground. From the other foot, they are being pressed to the ground by the surrounding walls. The human’s fingers bend, yet they do not surrender. They continue to push the walls, refusing to be confined. The walls may try to contain the being, but they did not know that beings like us cannot be contained. This is a metaphor of the current lived experience that indigenous people face in our institutions. More often than not, to venture into post secondary education means to compromise fundamentally who we are indigenous people. We are constantly surrounded by walls mimicking the nightmares of our grandparents and great grandparents. It continues to perpetuate a history of assimilation and colonial genocide. “Self Portrait” is both a reflection and a statement: That though the colonial project continues to assume supremacy over indigenous people, this being resiliently pushes forward without requesting permission to speak.
K'alayéI’ll áwé taayí daa yaa ḵugáat akawsinei aagáa du s’éigi du leitóoxṯ uwxíx “The liar wove a nightmare and then choked on their smoke”
2023, Oil on canvas, 48″ x 36″
Show More
The term “gaslighting” was first used in a British play from the 1930’s. The play was called “Gas Light” and was about a husband who mentally and emotionally manipulated his wife into believing she is crazy by changing the intensity of the gas lamps in their home. He was so persistent in denying her reality that he eventually convinced her that she was crazy. The film is very upsetting to watch, as you witness a woman slowly begin to believe she is insane and eventually committed to a mental institution, and the husband steals her inheritance. Gaslighting remains one of the most insidious forms of psychological abuse. Too often we are told we are crazy, when really our intuition knows that something is wrong. In this work, I interrogate the gaslighter and ruin them at their own game.