Aboriginal girls participate in art-as-fashion presentation

Young women from the Kainai reserve will participate in a fashion presentation entitled, ARTAWARENESS at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary on March 31.

They will model "wearable art," art within the context of the animated human form. This is an annual student-run event and project of Alberta College of Art and Design Student's Association (ACADSA). However, this will be a new experience and, hopefully, a positive experience for the 15 Kainai secondary school girls.

"This is a positive attempt to counteract on the negative crap out there around young girls," said Helen McPhaden, project director for the Stardale Women's Group Inc. Foundation.

The girls are between the ages of 15 to 17. They will "walk with their heads high" in front of a minimum of a 1,000 people and "that's pretty overwhelming for the first time," said McPhaden.
They are a part of the Aaksii-stoo-wakiiks program, which means strength of women. This is one of the many programs offered through Stardale.

Stardale is a learning and healing centre for Aboriginal women that provides life skills and literacy education. They also provide support to women living in poverty and abusive situations.

Through this program, McPhaden is teaching the girls communication skills, skills of presentation, modeling and leadership, which they will be able to utilize in everyday activities, as well as during the fashion event.

"When I work with my women and girls everyday, we build within and they can start to see it for themselves," said McPhaden. "As you heal and find that way and become stronger, then you become that example."

According to McPhaden, her whole focus for this program is to concentrate on the gang mentality, draw the girls' attention away from that lifestyle, and focus on a new one.

"Gangs is one of the areas that we want to work in because it's escalating all over," said McPhaden. "The cycles of violence are escalating and it's from the families, the lack of parenting, the intergenerational impacts due to residential schools. It's where families themselves have not been healed and culture and tradition has been broken."

McPhaden said that when young people, specifically young girls, are not getting enough guidance at home, for whatever reason, they turn to at-risk behaviors-drinking, drugs, sex and stealing.

"But we are trying to substitute that with a healthy alternative."

Leah Murphy is the sole designer of the wearable art that the girls from Kainai will model.
"Wearable art is often much more outrageous than fashion," said Murphy. "It's slightly different than the fashion world. It's kind of a newer art movement and it's starting to get a lot of recognition."

Twenty-four-year-old Murphy will be graduating from the fine arts program this year. She was born and raised in Vancouver where she says she was always exposed to Aboriginal people and art. So when the opportunity presented itself to work with the girls, Murphy thought it was a "really good idea."

"It would give them a very interesting experience," she said. "I think this will give the girls a lot of opportunity, because most of them will have never been in a fashion show or would have had the opportunity to model. They also get the opportunity to see what models do. They also get to come out to Calgary and see what the art school does and what I do."

This event not only provides Murphy with an opportunity to show off her unique style of art but also gives her the chance to maybe help change some lives.

"For me, it's about showing them opportunity to do different things, creative things that just might have not occurred to them," she said.