Artist Statement
Moss Bag Beading, 2021. Digital collage of individually photographed berries. Inspired by Moss Bag H4-2-13 (artist unknown) held in the Manitoba Museum, Winnipeg, MB. 8’ X 2.5’
My recent works were created to celebrate three important women: my great grandmother, Éléanore, an itinerant midwife who delivered hundreds of babies in Métis households on the Northern Great Plains; my grandmother, Clémence, who was born on a hunt and raised on a trading post, who worked as a Michif-French-English interpreter but who fiercely denied her Indigenous ancestry to protect her 15 children; and my naturalist mother, Anita. Mom’s storytelling and quest for historical documents defied family protocol and set the stage for my generation to reclaim our Métis heritage.
I created these works using two photo-based techniques I invented that mirror and celebrate the spectacular art forms of my Indigenous ancestors - beading and quillwork.
To introduce myself, my First Nations ancestors were Ojibway and Saulteaux women who formed unions with French “coureurs de bois” and “voyageurs” as they pushed west in search of furs. My Métis ancestors helped found the first Métis nation in the Red River district of what is now called Manitoba. Their family names were: Hamelin; Vandal, Gariépy; Roussin and Beaulieu.
Regarding my art-making process, In a nutshell (and in a nod to my family’s seasonal harvesting rituals), I collect, sort, grade and then “preserve” plant material and porcupine quills as high-resolution digital images.
I then use these images to make 2D and 3D works on paper, textiles and in 360° animation that salvage parts of our family history, celebrate plants and animals as kin and aspire to bridge the gap between Indigenous and Western sciences through art. I also want to engage with my community, so all my projects include outreach activities that combine art making, storytelling and visiting.
No project description would be complete without highlighting the contribution of my tremendous technical team and my supportive funding institutions. Special thanks go out to Lina Samoukova, Barry Muise, Etienne Capacchione, Ron Delisle, Pierre Marchand, Ann Hillyer, France Trépanier and Don Sugden as well as to the First People’s Cultural Council of BC, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec.