With My Back to the World

Chapter 1

Immense gratitude to Krista Foss, Canisia Lubrin, John Miller, Elizabeth Ruth and Emily Schultz. A special acknowledgement to the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Banff Writing Studio. Deep appreciation for Noelle Allen, Jennifer Hale, Ashley Hisson and the staff at Wolsak & Wynn. Hat tip to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico, and the Big Top Restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario. Profound love for my dear ones, Raven Cooper-Hill and Isis Cooper-Hill, and to Daniel Hill, thank you.

Agnes Martin was one of the most significant abstract painters of the twentieth century. Born in Macklin, Saskatchewan, in 1912, she spent the last twenty-six years of her life in New Mexico. Her minimalist work consists of pale washes and pencilled grids on square canvases and is internationally renowned. The Harwood Museum in Taos, New Mexico, exhibits seven of Martin’s paintings, donated by the artist, in an octagonal room. She died in Taos in 2004. Agnes Martin did not receive recognition for her work until she was nearly fifty.