Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
BARRY’S BAY – Art from students at Madawaska Valley District School is on display at the Madawaska Valley Public Library for the month of November. The display includes visual work, and poetry and land acknowledgements all with an Indigenous theme.
Grade 9 students in the Expressions of First Nations, Metis and Inuit Cultures course created the artwork which is a byproduct of what they are learning about the history of residential schools, Indigenous storytelling and murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG). The students studied the work of several indigenous artists including Alex Janvier, Daphne Odjig and
Norval Morriseau.
The class also considers the question Where am I from? as part of the course which delves into identity, culture, family, community and connection to the land. George Ella Lyons’ poem Where I am from was the basis for the student writings.
Art teacher Jody Sernoskie said Treaties Week (Nov. 3-9) was a, “good time to reflect on what this land means to us and our duty to take care of it,” and, as descendents of settlers to think about how we share the land, how we can be better neighbours to Indigenous Peoples and what it means that land acknowledgements include the terms “unceded” and “unsurrendured.”
Silent auction
The library has a silent auction running until the end of November. A group of local artists, led by Eva Kaczkoowski, donated the collective work. The bid is currently $100 and all proceeds stay in the library.
robert@thevalleygazette.ca
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