On National Truth and Reconciliation Day Sept. 30 at CASA, local artist Debbie Kelman presented Her Hands – a painting tribute to Anna Mae Aquash.
Anna Mae, who was First Nations and a tribal member from Nova Scotia, was involved with the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, with a focus on education, resistance and police brutality against urban Indigenous peoples.
It was reported she was murdered on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and a disturbing fact about Anna Mae’s story had a profound impact on Kelman.
According to Kelman, during an investigation into Anna Mae’s death, an F.B.I. agent allegedly ordered “her hands be cut off at the wrist and sent for identification.”
“I could not fathom this indignity to a fellow human could be carried out, so callously,” says Kelman, especially as a mother, caregiver, a woman, an artist and a human.
Kelman, who had the opportunity to experiment with art media at the University of Lethbridge, strives to represent a traditional Pikunii worldview within a contemporary context.
“I did the painting 25 years ago. After I made the painting, I looked at it and I said, now I’ve got to make the dress,” says Kelman.
“The significance of the red dress started in 1999. That’s when I had the concept of the dress, this painting. I did that while I was at the university. The reason I picked a red dress was because I was thinking about the blood that’s been spilled from so many Native women who have gone missing and murdered. That’s also why I put my handprints on the painting,” Kelman explains. “As a sign of remembrance, honour and healing.”
National Truth and Reconciliation Day was a way for Kelman to reconcile the pain felt over that situation, by putting paint on her hands.
Reconciliation is about healing, notes Kelman. “That was a healing act, an act of reconciliation. My artwork, a lot of it reflects that as well, too.”
Evelyn Crow Shoe, Kelman’s mother, was also a part of the event with her handmade dolls on display.
An original doll was made by Evelynn’s great grandmother, who was having a difficult time in her life.
The dolls carry on a connection to the family’s matriarchs through the continued creation of works of art.
(Photo by Stan Ashbee)
