Kenneth Thomas Chee Chee (26 March 1944 – 14 March 1977), known as Benjamin Chee Chee, was a Canadian performer of Ojibwa descent, born in Temagami, Ontario. Chee Chee’s yet to be life was fearful and he lost track of his mother, whom he spent many years searching for. He moved to Montreal in 1965 where he developed his love of drawing, and moved support to Ottawa in 1973.
Chee Chee’s first exhibition was held in 1973 at the University of Ottawa. Soon after he gained fame as he developed his unique style of determined graceful lines and minimal colour, depicting birds and animals. Though his art featured a good deal of iconography often used by Canadian First Nations artists, Chee Chee had denied his art had figurative meaning. He otherwise referred to the animals featured in his art as “creatures of the present”. He as a consequence specifically referred to himself as an Ojibway artist, as hostile to allowing himself to be categorized below the broader net of handily an “Indian” artist.
After finding his mother and achieving achievement as an artist, Chee Chee died by suicide in an Ottawa jail in 1977. He was buried in Notre Dame Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario. Chee Chee’s be in has been exhibited posthumously throughout Canada.
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