Canadian Residential Schools Watercolor - AP

  As the term wraps up I am now finishing my final Action Project for my class the Art of Rhetoric. We have spent the past few months learning about different rhetorical devices. As a way to wrap up the third unit called Unite, we got to show our learning by creating a piece of 'rhetor-art' which is a piece of art that also conveys a message. In this term, our class decided to focus on the rhetoric of housing. We have gone on Field Experiences with multiple development companies that create affordable housing and for-profit housing. We also learned about Independent Political Organizations in Chicago and visited the 48th Ward Neighbors for Justice. 

For this Action Project, I decided to create a watercolor painting about the Residential Schools in Canada which was a way for the government to strip indigenous kids of this culture and identity. The painting includes the landscape of a graveyard filled with 139 tombstones and different plants that are symbols of mourning in different indigenous Canadian cultures.

 I am a student from GCE lab school and for my piece of Rhetor-ART I chose to create a painting about the Canadian residential schools for Indigenous students.

    I chose this topic because I have always been interested in the history of Indigenous peoples in North America. The truth behind these schools only recently came to light and the topic is very interesting and also heartbreaking. It is something that is still not very well known and I hope that with this art I will be able to spread awareness.

    The purpose of this painting is to represent the lives lost at the 139 residential schools by showing a graveyard with 139 tombstones. While it is still unknown how many people were killed and abused in Canadian schools the number of schools is known which is why I chose that number. I also included different plants that are used to mourn in Native Canadian cultures. Some of these plants include sage, sweetgrass, and tobacco.

    The artwork is supposed to invoke feelings of heartbreak and sympathy. The loss of life associated with 
this piece is what makes the audience feel different forms of sadness and hopefully a need to drive change in their country.

    Since this piece is connected to the residential schools I also did a lot of research on them while preparing to create my painting. In June of 2021 many numerous unmarked graves were found on the grounds of multiple Canadian residential schools. At first, over 1,000 bodies were found but it is now estimated that over 4,100 students were killed at these schools. The Indigenous boarding schools were created by the Canadian government as a place to send young native children for them to be civilized and assimilate into European and Canadian culture. Families were torn apart due to these schools. Students were stripped of their native identities and not properly educated. Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse became common at residential schools. Children were often beaten as a form of punishment as well as being malnourished and having to live in unsanitary conditions. All of these things led to the many deaths of young indigenous peoples.

    As a way to share this information, I created a watercolor landscape of a grave. This medium is used in multiple indigenous cultures and I chose to use them as my art form. I used a traditional watercolor palette and watercolor paper to create this artwork.

    Since this is a piece of rhetor-art I tried to include the rhetorical appeals in my painting and the artist's statement. I primarily appealed to Pathos by trying to invoke emotion with my painting. Since it handles a not very well-known topic I also appealed to Logos by adding information to this statement.

    The imagined Audience for this piece is a Canadian who is able to learn from this piece. I think it would be incredibly meaningful if it was placed in the Parliament building of Ottawa because it would give visitors the chance to learn about all parts of Canadian history, not just the good.

Sources:

Austen, Ian. “How Thousands of Indigenous Children Vanished in Canada.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html#:~:text=In%20its%20report%2C%20the%20commission,for%20all%20of%20those%20children.

“The Residential School System.” Indigenousfoundations, https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/.

says:, Christine, et al. “Reflecting on Death: First Nations People.” Life and Death Matters, 11 June 2017, https://lifeanddeathmatters.ca/reflecting-on-death-first-nations-people/#:~:text=They%20may%20put%20sweetgrass%2C%20cedar,drumming%20and%20a%20short%20prayer.

“The Witness Blanket.” The Witness Blanket, https://witnessblanket.ca/.