MISSING & MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN & GIRLS
The visual language is stronger than the written word.
VISUAL CULTURE
Visual culture is important in any subject because it is a form of expression that is locked in time. Visual culture is used to document events, issues, time-periods, and people. Visual culture is especially relevant in today’s society with the use of technology. There are now more photos and videos taken every day than ever before. Visual culture in any subject is nearly unavoidable.
SISTERS
VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF A SOCIAL ISSUE
Visual art, including media, is an outlet. A means of expressing the thoughts and emotions of the artist through physical representation.
Organizations like the Minwaashin Lodge in Ottawa, ON offer programs and workshops to allow people to unleash these thoughts and expressions in a peaceful and meaningful way. The integration of formal art therapy programming at Minwaashin Lodge offers a large variety of arts including visual art, beading and sewing, singing, drumming, dancing, theatre, writing, and storytelling. Art is integral to many Aboriginal healing practices. This program allows its participants to use art to enhance their healing process, as well as raise awareness. It is as if the art itself was a part of both a ceremony and activism (Lu 198).
NEWS VISUALS:
CBC News has looked into 34 cases across Canada which involve the death or disappearance of Indigenous women, but which authorities say were not due to foul play.
In every case, families of the women say they do not accept the findings of police. They suggest murder may be involved.
CBC News found evidence in many of the cases that points to suspicious circumstances, unexplained bruises and other factors that suggest further investigation is warranted.
Many advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women say these are exactly the kinds of cases requiring further scrutiny in a national inquiry.
This database has individual profiles for over 200 missing and murdered indigenous women, all of which have photos. This project is part of CBC's ongoing investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women and allows for public access to these visual representations of the missing and murdered women.
Walking With Our Sisters is a massive commemorative art installation comprised of 1,763+ pairs of moccasin vamps (tops) created and donated by hundreds of caring and concerned individuals to draw attention to this injustice. The large collaborative art piece will be made available to the public through selected galleries and locations. The work exists as a floor installation made up of beaded vamps arranged in a winding path formation on fabric and includes cedar boughs. Viewers remove their shoes to walk on a path of cloth alongside the vamps.
ART INSTALATIONS:
MURAL VISUALS:
Murals have always been a form of visual art that is used as a tool to remember, to empower, to inspire, and to make a statement. Murals honouring missing and murdered indigenous women and girls have surfaced all over Canada and the United States. Some artists strive to show their positive moments, not troubles, while others look to shed light on this pressing social issue (Burr).
"The only way we can do something about it is if everyone is aware of the problem."
-Tom Andrich, mural artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Burr).
MONTREAL
QUEBEC, CANADA
WORKS CITED
Burr, William. "Mural Honours Missing, Murdered Women." Winnipeg Free Press. N.p., 30 June 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.
<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Mural-honours-missing-murdered-women- 124773339.html>.
Jiwani, Yasmin, and Mary Lynn Young. "Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in News Discourse." Canadian Journal of Communication [Online], 31.4 (2006): n. pag. Web. 20 Feb. 2017
Lu, Lucy, and Felice Yuen. "Journey Women: Art Therapy in a Decolonizing Framework of Practice." The Arts in Psychotherapy 39.3 (2012): 192-200. Science Direct. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.
"Mount Pleasant, MI - Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways." Walking With Our Sisters. N.p., 7 May 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.
Walker, Connie. “CBC News Launches Investigation.” CBC News. Prod. Heather Hiscox. Canadian Broadcasting Corperation, Toronto, ON, 10 April 2015. Television/Radio.