akokwâcikanis (2022)

Moose hide, deer hide, cowhide, walleye fish leather, deer antler, porcupine quills, dentalium, glass beads, sequins.

I take great inspiration from objects in my family, beautifully crafted by the women before me. I learn from investigating their stitches, materials and colour palettes. There is immense care in the needlework; such gentle persistence in the tension of sinew through skin. The red floral is my chapan’s (great grandmother’s) design which I have recreated. I’ve also used leather pieces in this composition cut by my grandmother’s hands– inherited when she passed, along with a treasure trove of beads. Here I have mixed these inherited materials with others gathered and processed by myself and my father to create a fibre landscape. Shell, deer antler, hide, porcupine quills, fish leather- my materials tell a rich story of the land and it’s vast network of human and non human relations. In stitching this piece I offer my care to the land in return for the care I have received. Embroidered in red syllabics on the left side of the canvas is the word nikiskatowin, meaning meeting one another.

ᐊᑯᑳᐧᒋᑲᓂᐢ (akokwâcikanis) Adorning the Land/Body / The New Gallery Billboard 208