akokwâcikanis (2022)
Moose hide, deer hide, cowhide, walleye fish leather, deer antler, porcupine quills, dentalium, glass beads, sequins.
I take great inspiration from objects in my family, beautifully crafted by the women before me. I learn from investigating their stitches, materials and colour palettes. There is immense care in the needlework; such gentle persistence in the tension of sinew through skin. The red floral is my chapan’s (great grandmother’s) design which I have recreated. I’ve also used leather pieces in this composition cut by my grandmother’s hands– inherited when she passed, along with a treasure trove of beads. Here I have mixed these inherited materials with others gathered and processed by myself and my father to create a fibre landscape. Shell, deer antler, hide, porcupine quills, fish leather- my materials tell a rich story of the land and it’s vast network of human and non human relations. In stitching this piece I offer my care to the land in return for the care I have received. Embroidered in red syllabics on the left side of the canvas is the word nikiskatowin, meaning meeting one another.
ᐊᑯᑳᐧᒋᑲᓂᐢ (akokwâcikanis) Adorning the Land/Body / The New Gallery Billboard 208
ᐯᐦᑕ! pehta!
Listen to me recite the poetry from the publication with The New Gallery on the player to the right.
View the publication virtually below.