Hope and healing exhibit at Stouffville Museum puts reconciliation in bright red

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 26, 2022
Simon Martin

When unmarked graves were discovered at a residential school in Kamloops last year, it sent shock waves across the country and around the world. The discovery, however was no shock for Tracy-Mae Chambers.

The Canadian Metis artist said the discovery surprised no one in Indigenous communities across the country.

“The discovery of these graves is an illustration of the lack of meaningful connection between settlers and Indigenous communities. The surprise by many Canadians at the discovery of the graves seems surreal to me,” Chambers said on her website.

Chambers is now trying to bridge the divide through her artwork exhibits across the country, which she has called #hopeandhealingcanada. The goal of these works is to broach the subject of decolonization with viewers and staff, she said. The installations are created with large pre-made crochet pieces, and knitted pieces made with red yarn.

Chambers created an exhibit at the Stouffville Museum earlier this month and it will be on display until Dec. 6.

Red is the colour of blood, the colour of passion and of anger, and represents danger and power, Chambers explained. The colour can also represent courage and love.

The Stouffville Museum had been in touch with Chambers for some time and was happy to get the installation in before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, said Ohan Stamboulian, heritage education and public program co-ordinator at the museum. “It can be a space for people to come and reflect and have important conversations about meaningful truth and reconciliation in the community,” he said.

Stamboulian said Chambers has hundreds of these type of installations across the country.

The location of the exhibit is important. Chambers said many of the public spaces she works in present a colonial viewpoint and primarily speak about settlers who arrived and not the Indigenous people displaced along the way.

“The discussion of reconciliation and decolonization is hard to start and harder still to maintain. Therefore, I am hoping to use my work to help bridge the gap between settlers and Indigenous, Métis and Inuit people by creating art that is approachable and non-confrontational so we can start,” she said.

Chambers only discovered in adulthood her Ojibwa-Metis heritage.

Admission is free to the museum for the rest of year to see Chambers work. It is open Wednesday to Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m.

Stouffville is a significant area for the Huron-Wendat nation. In 2002, archeologists discovered there was a village founded by the Huron-Wendat in the 16th century in what now is Stouffville. The discovery was unearthed on seven acres of the Mantle family farm. Archeologists found 200,000 artifacts, including remnants of log houses and a walled-in settlement, pottery, tools and a piece of wrought iron.

Earlier this year, the town unveiled a land acknowledgment plaque at the doors of town hall with members of the Huron-Wendat Nation.

“It’s important way to show reconciliation with First Nations,” Huron-Wendat Chief William Romain said at the time. “It’s a nice opportunity to show everyone that the Huron-Wendat have been here for many years.”