60 Before 60 Project: #38 - Go to an Art Gallery

The last time I went to an art gallery was over five years ago. It was during a family trip to Ottawa and while we were there, we visited the National Gallery of Canada. This art gallery is extremely large. The building itself is over 500K feet and houses over 75,000 pieces of art. 

I remember feeling quite overwhelmed as we walked from one area of the gallery to the other looking at the massive collection of paintings, sculptures and other pieces of art. 

But a recent visit to an art gallery for my 60 Before 60 Project was quite different. This time it was quite an intimate and emotional experience. 

The Whetung Ojibwa Centre located in Curve Lake Ontario has a long history. Back in the early 1960’s, unemployment was extremely high on the Curve Lake reserve. To try and combat this situation, the Whetung Family encouraged fellow band members to produce crafts for sale. This started off as a cottage industry with crafters creating baskets, head dresses, moccasins and many other items to sell to visitors but began to grow. In 1966 they build their first building to showcase and sell the products being made. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

The centre has since transitioned to a multi room gallery and shop filled with crafts, paintings, pottery and many other artistic and decorative products made by both local and other Canadian First Nation craftspeople. 

When I walked into the gallery, I couldn’t help but be blown away by the colours. Vibrant reds, blues, oranges and yellows surrounded me. The colourful moccasins, quill work and jewellery were a delight for the eyes. 

But as I walked through the rooms, I was also filled with a sense of sadness. As I looked at image after image of an Indigenous mother cradling their child, I could not help but reflect on Canada’s past. I thought of all the children that were forcibly taken from their homes, families and everything they knew and then housed in an abusive residential school system designed to specifically destroy Indigenous communities and their way of life.  

I felt shame.

I could not imagine how as human beings we could do something like this to each other. How could we take some of our most vulnerable and subject them to this type of systematic hatred and violence? 

But I also felt hope. 

This hope stemmed from the Indigenous artists as they shared their ancestry, history and talents with me. Their strength of character, courage and resilience shone through their artwork. The bright colours and historic images of their past stared at me like a beacon of hope.  

This was not a standard art gallery visit for me. This was an opportunity for me to reflect on our shared history as Canadians and the wounds and scars that we have created. It served as a reminder that we must do better. We must be better.  

My 60 Before 60 Life Lesson: Art can shine a light on both the scars of our past and our hopes for the future.