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.
Adrian travels to Australia where he finds eerie similarities to Norval Morrisseau’s story. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, an Indigenous artist and Anmatyerre man from the Northern Territory, was a contemporary of Norval’s. Tjapaltjarri walks into a gallery and is surrounded by paintings signed by him…but he didn’t paint them. Bigger questions surface about how Indigenous art – and Indigenous people – are valued. Adrian reflects on his own art, and on the impact these forgeries have on Norval’s legacy.
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Features:
Kevin Hearn
Norval Morrisseau, archival
Inspector Jason Rybak
Inspector Kevin Veilleux
Eugene Morrisseau
Gabe Vadas
Vivien Johnson
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, archival
12 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 5: Under the Paint
Kevin’s court case kicks off a years-long police investigation. But as officers in Thunder Bay, known by some locals as “Murder Bay” because of its high homicide rates, finally look into the forgeries, they see a possible connection with a suspected murder. Finally, there are some answers and arrests.
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Features:
Kevin Hearn
Norval Morrisseau, archival
Inspector Jason Rybak
Inspector Kevin Veilleux
Eugene Morrisseau
5 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 4: The Interveners
Kevin Hearn decides to take the dealer who sold him his painting to court. But this is no ordinary court case. The original dealer dies before the trial. And Kevin, along with his lawyer and witnesses, are stalked and harassed by people who stand to lose a lot of money if Kevin can prove his Morrisseau painting is a fake. Kevin needs to hire a bodyguard as the future of the court case teeters.
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Features:
Gabe Vadas
Kevin Hearn
Norval Morrisseau, archival
Jonathan Sommer, Kevin Hearn’s lawyer
Carmen Robertson
29 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 3: Norval Fights Back
Norval Morrisseau, who died in 2007, was still alive when forged paintings in his name started appearing. When he saw hundreds of paintings online “signed” by him that he knew he didn’t paint, he started to fight back. To trace the fakes, Adrian goes to Thunder Bay in northern Ontario, the suspected epicentre of the art frauds and a place Morrisseau once called home, to search for who is forging all these Morrisseaus. All signs point to one person.
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Features:
Gabe Vadas
Kevin Hearn
Norval Morrisseau, archival
Jonathan Sommer, Kevin Hearn’s lawyer
Tim Tait
Lorraine Cull
Carmen Robertson
22 Oct 2025
Episode 2: The Signature
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
15 Oct 2025
Episode 1: A Painting
Rock star Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies is doing rock star things — like buying paintings. And what better painting for an iconic Canadian rocker to buy than one by Norval Morrisseau, one of the most iconic Indigenous artists in Canada? But when Kevin’s Morrisseau painting is featured in an exhibit, it gets taken down because the head curator says it’s “questionable.” Kevin tries to get some answers but every answer leads to more questions. Host Adrian Stimson traces Kevin’s dogged quest to find out the truth about his painting — and learns how this one painting is the key to cracking a whole underworld open.
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Features:
Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies)
Gerald McMaster
Norval Morrisseau, archival
Gail Dexter Lord
26 Sept 2025
Introducing: Forged
Host Adrian Stimson, a painter from the Siksika Nation, tells the unfolding story of legendary Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau and how criminal fraudsters copied his work in a scheme that became what is believed to be the largest art fraud in the world. A new six-part series from CBC and ABC Australia.
Inside a recent episode
Episode 6: Still Painting
Published 19 Nov 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] A painting by Clifford Possum Jappaljara has become the most expensive piece of Aboriginal artwork. The work while I prolong, sell for $2 .4 million at auction in Melbourne last night. His paintings hang in galleries around the world. And even with all the fame, Clifford remains grounded. […]
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