Birthing Tent
I created the two-part ‘Birthing Tent’ installation to celebrate the life of my great-grandmother Éléonore. An itinerant midwife who criss-crossed the Northern Great Plains birthing babies, Éléonore was born on a buffalo hunt and raised her own children on an outpost with her trapper/ fur-trader husband in the Red River region of Manitoba.
I used my unique ‘Berries to Beads’ technique that combines photographs of berries with high resolution digital tools to create ‘beaded’ works.
The ‘beaded’ silk ribbons reference traditional ribbon skirts - symbols of Indigenous womens’ power, resilience and survival. Many such skirts have been created to honour the families and the memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The tent canopy features a ‘beaded’ oxytocin molecule. (In contrast to another tiny particle, Covid-19, oxytocin is a ‘bonding hormone’ that plays a valuable role in regulating our social behaviour from birth to death.) I chose oxytocin because it reflects the high levels of social cohesion and bonding that exemplified Métis community life, including seasonal buffalo hunts.
The creation of this work was made possible thanks to financial support of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and Canada Council for the Arts. I want to thank Lina Samoukova, Étienne Capacchione, Barry Muise and Kim Metera for their technical support.
