Carl Beam RCA (May 24, 1943 – July 30, 2005), born Carl Edward Migwans, was an Indigenous Canadian multi-media artist whose career confronted Canada's colonial legacy through innovate means of creativity. His work engaged with the contemporary issues and experiences of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. Beam made Canadian art history as the first artist of Indigenous Ancestry (Ojibwe), to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada as Contemporary Art. A major retrospective of his work was organized by the National Gallery of Canada in 2010. He worked in various photographic mediums, mixed media, oil, acrylic, spontaneously scripted text on canvas, works on paper, Plexiglas, stone, cement, wood, handmade ceramic pottery, and found objects, in addition to etching, lithography, and screen process.

Carl Beam was born Carl Edward Migwans on May 24, 1943, in M'Chigeeng First Nation, to father Edward Cooper and mother Barbara Migwans. His mother was the daughter of Dominic Migwans, Ojibwe West Bay Chief (later renamed M'Chigeeng First Nation). "The Beam family's true name derives from miigwaans which means little feather or bird." His father was an American soldier stationed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served in the 77th Armor Regiment during World War II; he died as a prisoner-of-war in 1945 Bad Soden, Germany.

He recounted to his daughter, artist Anong Migwans Beam, that he was mainly raised by his grandparents. His exceptional qualities were observed by his elders, and he was given the name "Ahkideh", derived from the Ojibwe word for "one who is brave"." This name was meant to honour Beam's connection to the bear, his spirit animal. He was sent to Garnier Residential School, in Spanish, Ontario, from the age of ten until eighteen. Beam married his first wife in the early 1960s. They had five children, Clinton, Veronica, Laila, Carl Jr., and Jennifer. The marriage was later annulled. Beam married Ann Elena Weatherby, and they had a daughter Anong.

Beam died on July 30, 2005, in his home on M'chigeeng Reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario from complications due to diabetes.

Beam's mother was not able to get an education, so she was eager to enrol Carl in a local school. She sent him to Garnier High School in Spanish, Ontario, a residential school run by the Jesuits. While there, Beam was subjected to horrible conditions and abuse that led him to drop out in Grade 10. Despite this, he completed his education ahead of schedule by taking correspondence course.

After working at a variety of jobs, from construction work on the Toronto subway to working as a millwright in Wawa, Ontario, Beam enrolled at the Kootenay School of Art (1971). He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria in 1974, and entered into post-graduate studies at the University of Alberta, (1975–1976). While at the University of Alberta, Beam wanted to write on Fritz Scholder (1937–2005), a contemporary Indigenous artist, but his professors deemed it an unworthy topic. Offended by this, Beam left his studies and returned to Ontario.

The direction of Carl Beam's visual style was firmly established by the late seventies. In 1979, Beam met and married his wife, Ann Beam. "In developing his work over the years, Beam has been accompanied by his wife, Ann, herself an artist and a former teacher at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Often they have worked as collaborators". At this time he incorporated multiple photographic images onto a single picture plane. "He disregarded the illusory deep space of Renaissance depiction, in favour of a flat tableau, where a dialogue of multiple images could take place". At this time his photographic imagery was achieved primarily via screen process, photo-etching, Polaroid instant prints, and a solvent transfer technique also used by Robert Rauschenberg.

In 1980, Beam and his wife, Ann, and daughter, Anong, moved to Arroyo Seco, New Mexico to live and work. "We developed a dialogue together in everyday living, politics, world events, ceramic technique, painting, and all things art, that would continue for the next 26 years". Said Beam of the time,