On display from March 20 to April 30, 2019 in the Sunroom & First Nations Circle at Central Library, pîkiskwe-speak: An Invitation to Conversations in Reconciliation, features artwork by Alberta based Indigenous artist, Lana Whiskeyjack, and the award-winning documentary film, Lana Gets Her Talk, by Beth Wishart MacKenzie.
The art and film installation pîkiskwe-speak explores the intergenerational wounding of Canada’s Indian Residential School system and the power of art and Indigenous pathways to heal the wounding. With this touring installation, the artists seek to engage communities across Canada in Conversations of Reconciliation through art and conversations aimed at writing a new chapter, painting a new vision, and creating a new protocol for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous relations in Canada.
About the artists
Lana Whiskeyjack is an "Arts Actionist" and educator from Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Alberta. She recently completed a doctorate degree at University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills, Alberta. Lana is currently an assistant professor with the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension. Lana’s research, writing, and art explores the paradoxes of what it means to be nehiyawiskwew in a Western culture and society and how to reclaim/re-gather/remember ancestral medicine (sacredness & power).
Beth Wishart MacKenzie is an educator and documentary filmmaker based in Edmonton, Alberta. She holds an M.A. in Comparative Literature & Religious Studies from the University of Alberta where she served as a lecturer in Religious Studies for more than 10 years. Beth now uses the camera to explore the complexity of cultural-religious life in Canada. As a socially engaged documentary filmmaker, Beth seeks to use the creative medium of film to build community in Canada.
pîkiskwe-speak is one of 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.
The Sunroom is made possible by the generosity of Margot and Layne Spafford.
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