Benjamin Chee Chee

Kenneth Thomas Benjamin Chee Chee (26 March 1944 – 14 March 1977 ), known as Benjamin Chee Chee, was an Ojibwa Canadian artist born in Temagami, Ontario. He is best known for his modern, simplified, and graceful depictions of birds and animals.

Early life Chee Chee's father died when he was very young, and as a child, Chee Chee was separated from his mother and sent to residential school. He later spent 12 years searching for her before he found her. He moved to Montreal in 1965 where he developed his love of drawing, and moved back to Ottawa in 1973.

Career Chee Chee's first exhibition was held in 1973 at the University of Ottawa, 1976: Inukshuk Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario; Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario; He was buried in Notre Dame Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1983, upon their acquisition of a large collection of the artist's work for their new gallery, the Thunder Bay Nation and Exhibition and Centre for Indian Art organized his first retrospective. The show received a grant of $97,200 from the Government of Canada to travel to communities throughout Northern Ontario over the next three years.

There is a park named after him (Benjamin Chee Chee Park) in Milton, Ontario.