Reconciliation Is a Two-Way Street
What reconciliation looks like, seen through an art gallery.
The last copper penny in Canada was made in 1997, only a year after the last residential school was closed. Most people don’t think that pennies and Indigenous history are connected in any way, but Katheryn Wabegijig would argue otherwise. In her artwork Self-Portrait in Reclaimed Copper (1979), Wabegijig uses flattened copper pennies to create a portrait of herself. The laborious act of hammering away the Queen’s face from each copper penny signifies Wabegijig’s assertion of her independence as an Indigenous person and Indigenous peoples’ reclaiming of history from the confines of colonization. Located at the entrance of the Daphne Cockwell Gallery dedicated to First Peoples art & culture, Self-Portrait in Reclaimed Copper introduces the gallery’s mission, which is to allow Indigenous peoples to reclaim history by presenting their history through an Indigenous lens and using artifacts to support this retelling. Reconciliation is a long road, and it’s a two-way street at that; not only should Indigenous peoples be allowed to share their stories, but their voices must also be listened to. I will explore how effectively the Daphne Cockwell Gallery highlights Indigenous voices and cultures, and arranges this information to be educational and comprehensive for non-Indigenous visitors.
The first section of the gallery, “First Peoples Explorations and Encounters,” is a long wall lined with large birchbark canoes. These canoes signify the first chapter in the gallery’s retelling of Canadian history, when Europeans began stealing Indigenous resources for only the benefit of themselves. The first section always sets the tone for the entire gallery. It gave me the expectation that each section will mark a significant moment in Indigenous history using artifacts to support each depiction. This expectation was immediately broken by the next section. The second section, “Origins & Worldviews,” contains several ancestral and cultural artifacts that highlight Indigenous origin beliefs, which are Indigenous views on the creation of the world. These artifacts represent how Indigenous peoples were the original inhabitants of the land and how they have been in Canada for centuries. This section takes a different approach from the last section in describing Indigenous history. Rather than focusing on specific events, it decides to delve into a fact about Indigenous history, which is that “This has always been Indigenous land.” This section can be seen as a response to people who do not understand how long Indigenous history truly is compared to Canadian history told by European settlers.
If the second section did not surprise me in its change in tone, the third section made sure I got whiplash. Being the largest section, “Sovereign Allies | Living Cultures (First Nations of the Great Lakes)” does a complete change in terms of its structure and focus. A blurb shown at the beginning of the section reveals that it is a collection of artifacts once owned by a Mohawk doctor named Dr. Oronhyatekha. This section is huge, featuring cultural artifacts and pieces from Indigenous nations across Canada. Each piece describes a different aspect of Indigenous life before and during colonization. Aside from its complete change in structure and tone compared to the first two sections, the third section presents a deeply comprehensive dive into the diversity of Indigenous cultures across Canada.
Beside the third section is the fourth section, “First Peoples Retelling Traditions,” which features a collection of images detailing the creation process of traditional beadwork and arctic kayaks as well as a few physical pieces. This section focuses on the preservation of traditional practices in a modern context, whether that be by using modern materials, or using modern methods of preservation, like photography.
Right around the corner is the fifth and final section, “First Peoples Contemporary Expressions.” This section contains contemporary art made by Native artists. It demonstrates how Indigenous people are using art to express their own experiences with colonization and the loss of their cultures.
Overall, the gallery has a strong purpose, which is to emphasize Indigenous tellings of the past and Canadian history, and allowing Indigenous peoples to reclaim their past. The gallery succeeds at highlighting the diversity of Indigenous cultures, however, the sections are scattered, and there is no consistent structure or tone throughout the gallery. The sections in this gallery are strong on their own, but they do not effectively work together to emphasize the main message of the gallery.
The gallery is clearly made by Indigenous peoples with Indigenous peoples and cultures in mind while also being accessible to a non-Indigenous audience. So much of Indigenous history and cultures is hidden behind the pretense that Canadian history has no flaws, which ignores the injustices that were experienced by Indigenous peoples, and the fact that these injustices have affected Indigenous peoples for generations. By highlighting Indigenous cultures through art and artifacts, the gallery dismantles the erasure of Indigenous voices, and spotlights Indigenous experiences and knowledge. The gallery also invites non-Indigenous visitors to consider the Indigenous stories it presents, and by doing so, combined with its representation of Indigenous voices, takes the next steps in the road to reconciliation. I highly recommend everyone visit this gallery because not only is it a free resource to learn about Indigenous history—mostly Indigenous cultures—from Indigenous voices, but also because one of the most important parts of reconciliation is awareness and education.