Art project demonstrates reconciliation as a historical process

Reconciling Edmonton is an archival project that uses three different media of art to tell the story of how Aboriginal peoples and settlers lived together.  

“As part of the Reconciliation in Solidarity Edmonton group, it’s a project that shows that reconciliation is a process that has been happening for a long time in Edmonton,” said Miranda Jimmy, Aboriginal relations project coordinator for the
city of Edmonton.

The project was conceived by Danielle Metcalfe-Chanail, Edmonton’s historian laureate. She was joined by Jimmy; Jen Yvette, the artist in residence for the city; and, Anna-Marie Soule, former poet laureate.

“Reconciliation is not a new fad, or buzzword but it’s a process that precedes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will continue after,” Jimmy said. “We wanted to find images from the signing of treaty to present day. By choosing seven images over that time, it showed the relationship between Aboriginal people and settlers in Edmonton developing.”

Seven images were chosen because seven is a significant number, says Jimmy noting the seven sacred teachings that the TRC is based on, as well as the belief that decisions made affect seven generations‎ to come.

Four of the images were retrieved from the city’s archives, one from the Provincial Archives of Alberta, one from Sweetgrass’s sister publication Windspeaker, and one from the community.

Jimmy notes that Aboriginal representation in the archives was hard to find.

Yvette says she feels this project is the perfect opportunity to engage the public with this perspective of looking at reconciliation.

“Part of my role as artist-in-residence is to bring art to the public and the public to art,” she said.

In this technological age the group placed their photos on social media and gauged the reaction. What they found was most people wondered who the people in the photos were and why they were there. As such, social media has proven to be a valuable source in researching the different photos.

 “For some people this is what they love to do. I haven’t done a lot of this archival work and it’s like detective work for them. For example, there were a couple things we couldn’t find any information on and other people did it through social media,” said Jimmy.

Yvette says as the painter of the pieces she doesn’t want to overly interpret the images but she would, “want to extend the length of time people look at the images. A painting just naturally makes a person want to look a little longer than you
might typically while looking at a photograph.”

While the three artistic media -  poetry, paint, and photograph - all tell the same story, they have the potential to reach viewers in unique ways.

“Different things in the different images speak to different people. Some people recognize certain places and certain parts but really it’s the responses and the dialogue that we are trying to inspire,” said Jimmy.

The project will be unveiled at City Hall on Nov. 25. .