Statement

It is hard to write about this project, as there is so much that I really don’t know. I met with Rob at his home, and he shared his painting of a “Jingle Dancer” with me. He explained colours and symbols and played a recording of a song he composed to accompany the work. He showed me a drum he had made and stained with berries.

And so the New Year began with Robert’s painting on my studio wall, a week of reading, daily sage cleansing (to the best of my ability), preparing my space to create, and then the daily work.

During that time I read an account of a woman who as a young girl was sent to a residential school. Her aunties and mother made her a new dress of which she was very proud. They lovingly braided her hair and she went forward on this frightening adventure. When she arrived at the school, her dress was taken and burned and her hair was cut off, a painful loss of pride and identity. I cried as I read the story. Robert’s painting of the Jingle Dancer refers to healing feminine energies, and so I was inspired to create a Healing Dress for a child.

It is made of red paper, block printed with simple hand carved designs of the traditional healing herbs – cedar, sage, tobacco and sweet grass – printed in yellow-gold ink. When I cut the positive shape of the circle and the dress out of the printed red paper, a negative shape remained which became the absent dress, symbolizing the lost child.

The layers of paper are sewn with invisible threads together to the leaf paper, which is representative of fallen leaves, detritus and earth. Shell buttons are traditional closures made from abalone and mother of pearl, and each button represents an artist in the circle. In this work I view the buttons as symbols of water (life). As they reflect light in rainbows, they are also positive and hopeful signs.

The large buttons at the “throat” represent the voice – turquoise for healing and black for loss and pain. The colours and shapes in my work also have symbolic meaning.

The black ground is bible paper used in the flysheets of bible construction. It represents the “black robes” of the church and foreign authority.

The circle stitching is bold with heavy thread but remains unfinished, which represents the task ahead – listening and understanding.

I then met with Clayton King to pass the feather. Every element of this artwork has taken on greater meaning as I listen and learn. I am grateful for the privilege of working on this project and thank everyone in the circle for sharing their creativity
and insights.

To me this project represents working in harmony and sharing a narrative that is difficult, challenging and invaluable, leading to a hopeful future of mutual respect and most of all friendship.