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By Brittney Pastion of CFWE-FM
Windspeaker.com Contributor
The art exhibit, Blackfoot Identity Pride and Inspiration, is being displayed at the Blackfoot Family Lodge, located in Lethbridge at 830 7th Street North.
“It’s our Indigenous artists’ view of our unique timeline, telling our stories, not in words, but in vivid portrayals that speak directly to the heart,” said Mary Ann Crow Healy of the Blackfoot Canadian Cultural Society. The artists involved are Kerry Scott, Val Good Rider and Debbie Kelman.
“The content of the exhibit is a timeline from before contact through to today,” Healy said.
Some of the pieces include such titles as First Contact, Small Pox, Signing of Treaty 7 and Napi’s World.
Scott’s work was part of his masters’ thesis
The works speak to the institutionalization of the young in residential schools and the banishment of the Sundance, to the harshness of the environment with no water and trees.
Then the works go on to address the process of surviving, healing and celebrating
“So, it goes through a whole gamut of emotions; it’s just something that you feel,” Healy explained.
She said she has followed the artists’ work over the years and knew that there was a need for this exhibit.
Asked what she hoped that people would take away from the exhibit, Healy said “For Indigenous people I expect a similar reaction as to what happened with me when I first saw the Kerry Scott’s pieces. I had this understanding of what has happened throughout… I visualized our history and it just made sense and I calmed down.”
She said Good Rider’s paintings evoke hope and an understanding of Indigenous spirituality and connection with nature and the animals.
And she has a group on the powwow. “I’m really familiar with the empowering aspect of the powwow and that comes out in her painting.”
Kelman’s work is issue based in several mediums. One piece centres on the execution-style murder of Anna-Mae Aquash. When her body was discovered it could not be identified. Her hands were cut off and sent to the FBI for fingerprinting.
In Kelman’s painting called “Her Hands”, the artist was so touched by Aquash’s story she gave her back her hands.
She has also created a white buffalo.
“When I see all of these, I feel so connected. I’m hoping that the community will have an opportunity to learn from this,” said Healy, to realize that the Indigenous people of the area have full and thriving nations, culture.”
An artist meet-and-greet with Kerry Scott will take place on Dec. 14.
This is a Canada 150 project that was scheduled to finish Dec. 31, but Blackfoot Identity, Pride and Inspiration will run until the end of June, so that school groups can see the works.
They have already had a group of 18 high school students through the exhibit.
“They were pretty impressed,” Healy said.