National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, on September 30, honours Survivors of residential schools, the children who never returned home, their families and communities. Collective commemoration of our tragic and painful history, and the effects of residential schools, is a vital component of the reconciliation process.
Beadwork for healing
To approach how Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples can heal together, our team collaborated with the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KORLCC) to seek how different art forms can bring about this healing. In this video, Elder Geraldine Standup explains how beadwork brings about healing from a place of stillness. “Artwork comes from a place of stillness; it comes from your inner being. It’s a form of meditation, and it allows you to travel deeply into your own psyche.”
The younger generation in Kahnawake keeps this tradition, passed down from woman-to-woman, alive. Candace Kahnekanonha Snook and Billie Jo Ratt, two artists, prepared beadworks for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
We invite you to learn more about their work here, as we commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Moon Ceremony
In the words of the artist:
“Moon Ceremony represents the strength, resilience, and knowledge of our ceremonies that lives within our Elders and their freedom to pass it on to future generations. The fire represents our spirit, the light we carry within ourselves, as well as the force that helps carry our messages to Creator. The moon represents the connection to our celestial Grandmother and women’s medicine. The strawberries are our original medicine from skyworld and the heart of our mother, the Earth. The round canvas represents the interconnectedness of all living things.”
Candace Kahnekanonha Snook is snipe clan from Kahnawake, first learned beadwork as a child from her mother who did loomwork. Starting in 2014, she started experimenting with beading on canvas. Beadwork is a continued journey of self-exploration, expression and healing for Candace. The art of creating through beadwork is therapeutic for her, and her creations are inspired from reflecting on her own healing journey and reconnecting with cultural teachings.
Strength, Resilience and Healing
In the words of the artist:
“Strength, Resilience and Healing represents the children who were forced into residential prisons. The children depicted are wrapped with sweetgrass to bring protection and healing. The eagle feathers signify a spiritual connection between those who died and those who survived. They smudge to cleanse their mind, body and soul of the trauma. May the children find peace in the spirit world and in the physical world. Their long-connected braids symbolize regrowth and strength. The unconscionable “kill the Indian, save the child” went over in my mind as I strung the beads and braided them. The heart symbolizes that they are loved. They have families. She is someone’s child. He is someone’s father. The leather backing imitates the pattern of a turtle’s shell which represents their ancestral roots known as Turtle Island.”
Billie Jo Ratt is Algonquin from Barriere Lake and has lived in Kahnawake for more than 25 years. She learned flat stitch beadwork from her mother and raised beadwork from a very talented Mohawk woman. Both have had a significant impact on her life as a beader. Beading is how she expresses herself as an Indigenous person and is deeply rooted in personal stories. Every stitch tells a story, and she cares to bring awareness for her People, and hopes her art can help bring comfort to those in grief or to honour someone’s accomplishments.
Strength, Resilience and Healing is dedicated to the children of residential “schools” and in honour of my father, a boy who was taken at the age of 5 who is now a surviving elder at the age of 75.” – Billie Jo
7 Generations of Matriachs
In the words of the artists:
7 Generations of Matriarchs is a collaborative artwork that Candace Kahnekanonha Snook and Billie Jo Ratt created. It represents the strong spirit of women, that passes through generations and inter-generational healing and strength. It captures the spirit that women grow life and give life. A woman’s medicine and spiritual connection is with the moon, depicted at the top of the canvas. The cycle of the moon resembles women’s innate ability to process, reflect and release no matter what the issue is. The phase of the moon is also a metaphor of the stages of life that a woman experiences. The eagle feathers holding up the shawl points to protection and to give thanks. This shawl, in which they are wrapped, encompasses the meaning of unity as healers and nurturers.
Beadworking
“The sense of fulfillment that is experienced when my beads can tell a story is indescribable. It is a wonderful and humbling feeling when others can connect with and heal from that same story.” – Candace Kahnekanonha Snook
“I feel closer to who I am as an Indigenous woman with every stroke of the needle. It is my medicine. There is an inexplicable feeling of pride and accomplishment when a vision is perfected into physical form.” – Billie Jo Ratt
“Truth and Reconciliation is telling the whole truth of what happened, believing the trauma they endured and recovering the bones of children that remain unearthed.” – Billie Jo Ratt
Angel Horn is a photographer from Kahnawake. Her work celebrates her community and has been featured on CBC. Follow her Orange Shirt Day photo series.