The “Walking With Our Sisters” project will be wrapping up and beginning its journey across Canada and possibly into the United States in just over a month (it is currently booked through the beginning of 2018), but there is still time to participate for anyone interested.
If you are not familiar with this project, here is a description from project founder Christi Belcourt:
“Walking With Our Sisters” A Commemorative Art Installation for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of Canada and the United States.
Although statistics in the U.S. are not available at present, In Canada, it is estimated that 600+ native women have gone missing or have been murdered in the last 20 years. Many have vanished without a trace with little to no concern paid by the media, the general public or politicians. This is a travesty of justice.
600+ moccasin tops are being created by hundreds of caring and concerned people to create one large collaborative art piece that will be installed for the public in various galleries and sites. They will be installed in a winding path of beaded vamps on cloth over a gallery floor. Viewers would need to remove their shoes to walk over the cloth and walk along the path. The exhibit is currently booked to tour across Canada and perhaps into the United States.
This project is about these women, paying respect to their lives and existence on this earth. They are not forgotten. They are sisters, mothers, daughters, cousins, grandmothers. They have been cared for, they have been loved, and they are missing.
A recording of traditional honour songs will also be created for the audio portion of the installation. A separate call to traditional singers anywhere in Turtle Island has gone out.
The due date for work is July 15, 2013. Mailed to Christi Belcourt, P.O. Box 5191, 133 Barber St., Espanola, ON, P5E 1A0. Send all work by a traceable package (Expedited, Registered, Express Post, etc.)
Donations towards the purchase of cloth, tobacco, shipping costs and other expenses directly related to the exhibit tour can be made by e-transfer to wwos@live.ca. Or directly to TD Canada Trust. Checks or money orders can be made out to Walking With Our Sisters and mailed.
All the work for the project is being done 100% by volunteers. No one is being paid for this work.
Link to the Facebook page for more information here.
Reblogged this on lara (author-blogger) and commented:
awesome!
When will this great event come to wpg.
They are still open to adding additional exhibits. All exhibits are locally organized. Here is the schedule so far:
Haida Gwaii Museum
Haida Gwaii, BC
August 23 – September 12, 2013
Organizing artist: Marnie Smith
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
September 30 – October 14, 2013
Organizers: Andrea Menard, Tanya Kappo, Tara Kappo
First Nations University Gallery
Regina, SK
November 4 – December 20, 2013
Organizers: Judy Anderson & Katherine Boyer
G’zaagin Art Gallery
Parry Sound, ON
Jan.1 – 31, 2014
Organizing artist: Tracey Pawis
Urban Shaman Gallery
March 7 – April 12, 2013
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Organizing artists: Diana Warren & Marcel Balfour
Aurora Cultural Centre
Aurora, ON
May 5 – June 26, 2014
Organizing artist: Nathalie Bertin
Thunder Bay Art Gallery
Thunder Bay, ON
September 6 – October 18, 2014
Organizing Artist: Jean Marshall
Saskatoon/Wanuskewin
Saskatoon/Wanuskewin, SK
November 1 – 30, 2014
Organizing Artist: Felicia Gay
TBC: Open Sky Creative Society Gallery
Fort Simpson, NT
Dates to be announced (tentatively Jan/Feb 2015)
Organizer: Lynn Canney, Program Coordinator
Yukon Arts Centre
March 12 – May 15, 2015
Whitehorse, Yukon
Organizing artist: Lena White
Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
Santa Fe, NM
August 2015
Organizing Curator: Ryan Rice
Gallery 101
Ottawa, ON
September/October 2015
Organizing artists: Heather Wiggs & Laura Margita
City of North Battleford
Chapel Gallery
North Battleford, SK
February 1 – March 31, 2016
Organizer: Leah Garven
Macdonell-Williamson House
Hawkesbury, ON
July 1 – 31, 2016
Organizing Artists: Anne Anderson & Laurie McClintock
TBC: Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
Almonte, ON
August 10 – September 17, 2016
Organizer: Michael Rikley-Lancaster, Executive Director / Curator
K.B. Reynolds Mastin’s Gallery
Debajehmujig Theatre Company
Manitowaning, ON
TBC: October /November 2016
Organizing artist: Jessica Wilde-Peltier
Akwesasne First Nation
(location to be announced)
Akwesasne Mohawk Territory
March, 2017
Organizer Dyan Swamp
I-Hos Gallery
Comox, BC
May 1 – 15, 2017
Organizer: Ramona Johnson
Musée des Abénakis
Odanak, Qc
June 15 – July 16, 2017
Organizer: Christine Siouiw
Kanienkehaka Raohtitiohkwa Cultural Center
Kahnawake Territory
September/October 2017
Organizer: Carla Hemlock
Georgina Arts Centre and Gallery
Sutton, Ontario
Jan-March 2018
Organizer: Suzanne Smoke
TBC: Maple Ridge Art Gallery
Maple Ridge, BC
Dates to be announced
Organizing artist: Lisa Sheppard
Exhibit tour ends with traditional ceremony in Batoche, SK