Welland Tribune e-edition

Indigenous artwork to honour residential schoolchildren

KELLY GERALDINE MALONE

Cree artist Betty Albert woke in the middle of the night after learning remains of possibly 215 children had been found at the site of a former residential school in British Columbia and looked at a canvas in her house.

Soon after, her hand holding a brush that seemed to move on its own, she began to paint.

“The colours were just coming. I didn’t second-guess it,” said Albert, who is based in Winnipeg. “That painting painted itself.”

The piece was finished in only a few hours. It depicts a mother draped in cloth holding a baby. The washed-out orange colour around her is speckled with 215 white dots. It is named “215.”

Her piece is part of a project displaying artwork by Indigenous artists on hundreds of billboards across the country to honour children whose remains have been found and those who are still missing.

Lisa Cherry, the campaign director, said the project was organized by Artists Against Racism after the Tk’emlups te Secwepec First Nation in Kamloops, B.C., announced last month that ground-penetrating radar had detected what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children.

She said art can break cultural and language barriers, heal and education.

“We decided to do a large visible campaign to further help with education and awareness,” Cherry said. “It’s a massive way to reach almost every Canadian and honour the children and their spirits in a large way.”

The group has done billboard campaigns for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Cherry said the artists realized it’s important to reach people with a message accessible everywhere: on the way to work, in a subway or on a rural road.

Eight Indigenous artists from across Canada are participating. Their pieces will hang on 500 digital billboards donated by Pattison Outdoor.

Cherry said art can affect people in different ways.

“You feel like it is your own children. You feel like it is your issue as well.”

The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of a residential school experience. Support is available at 1-866-925-4419.

The Canadian Press

CANADA & WORLD

en-ca

2021-06-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://wellandtribune.pressreader.com/article/281706912649074

Toronto Star Newspapers Limited