(Edmonton) – The Jewish Federation of Edmonton and the Edmonton Public Library are proud to host Saskatchewan artist Carol Wylie and Saddle Lake Indigenous Educator Terri Cardinal to discuss their perspectives on survival and healing from the Holocaust and Indian Residential Schools.
This event is in conjunction with Carol Wylie’s art installation, They didn’t know we were seeds, which will be on display at the Stanley A. Milner Library from September 29 through November 25, 2022. This large-scale portrait series honours those lost in residential schools and the Holocaust, as well as survivors and intergenerational survivors.
Wylie states in her project/artist statement: Both Indigenous survivors and Jewish survivors speak of a solidarity forged from the shared need to find ways of healing personal and generational trauma in the wake of horrendous abuse and attempted genocide, and to educate.
The event will be held in the Muttart Theatre on the basement floor of the Stanley A. Milner Library.
After the discussion, guests are invited up to the first floor PÎYÊSÎW WÂSKÂHIKAN for tea, coffee and desserts.
About the presenters:
Carol Wylie has engaged in an active art practice for thirty years, exclusively working with portrait and figuration. She holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a BFA in studio art and BA in psychology from the University of Saskatchewan. She resides in Saskatoon, SK and divides her time between personal practice, teaching drawing and painting for Hues Art Supply, and art education at Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan.
wapekihêw iskwew, Terri Cardinal is from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 Territory. She is currently the Indian Residential School Coordinator for University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills, which is located on a former residential school site. She has previously worked in First Nations communities developing and implementing cultural programming for Indigenous families while mentoring front line workers in the Health and Social Work field. Terri acknowledges her learning and connection to Cree Worldview from the University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills where she completed her first two degrees (BGS & IBSW). Terri’s research and passion focuses on ceremony is healing, Indigenous social work, identity and Indigenous land-based learning.
This program is supported by the Isadore and Florence Burstyn Memorial Fund, KSW Calgary Holocaust Education & Commemoration Endowment Fund.
If you have time, goggle George Littlechild, Indigenous artist. He and another Jewish artist got together with another combination of indigenous poet and Jewish poet and produced a video and picture book on the topic of parallel holocausts called ‘honouring the grandmothers’. This is a beautiful book, which I cannot find in print anywhere. Use your connections and see if you can find a copy. It was published in the 90’s. It speaks of what this article is all about.