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.
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.
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.
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Features:
Kevin Hearn
Gerald McMaster
Norval Morrisseau, archival
Eugene Morrisseau, Norval Morrisseau’s son
Jonathan Sommer, Kevin Hearn’s lawyer
Joseph Sanchez