Exploring what nikawiy (my mother) means to me.
There are diverse nêhiyaw teachings of the 13 moon calendar based the region, environment and connection to the land. This is an iskwêw exploration and retelling of grandmother moon teachings through a series of 13 oil paintings. Collaboration with Mixed Creatives, 2022.
Learn Cree teachings about traditional parenting through the mossbag and the swing. Traditional Cree protocols for knowledge gathering were followed to produce this digital story. A collaboration between Saddle Lake Cree Nation and the University of Toronto. Funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Within the Cree language, we identify our name and land connection through our ohtisiy (bellybutton), which reflects that we are a matrilineal peoples. Knowing where we come from is vital to know where we are going. There are protocols in raising our children, here is an ohtisiy teaching as shared by Alsena White.
When we have strong healthy families we have strong healthy communities. This digital story is about the Cree teachings of wâhkômâkanak - our traditional kinship system.
We learned that when we restore our kinship system and protocols, we can help to restore health within our communities.
This is part of my doctoral research on Indigenous beauty. I asked iskwewak how they define beauty and when are they in their element of beauty. My little mother (aunty) share's her beauty narrative.
This is a digital on when I feel most beautiful, nimiyomacihon.
The inspiration for these Indigenous beauty digital stories is to behind stories of Indigenous resilience, courage, power and prayers for our future generations.
I want nosimak (my grandchildren) to know we are more than what Western society states and shares about us.
This digital story is about two nehiyawak who traveled to over 24 communities within 9 months across Treaty Six territory to share their stories, prayers and songs of resilience through art experiential learning. Art is ceremony.
This was my first digital story created with the Oral History Centre with University of Winnipeg in 2014. I was in my 2nd year of doctorate program exploring intergenerational trauma from Indian Residential Schools. This digital story helped me to evolve my visual storytelling but also to give voice to the stories of, in this case, my womb. Warning: this story speaks about Indian Residential schools and its impacts on our womens medicine.