MM interview with Metis artist Christi Belcourt on Walking with our Sisters WWOS

Rebeka Tabobondung interviews Christi Belcourt for MUSKRAT Magazine about the Walking with our Sisters exhibition/memorial hosted by G'zaagin Art Gallery at the Parry Sound Museum. The exhibition ran from January 10 to 26, 2014.

[@stololady]

Thank you for this recording. As one of the many who submitted vamps to Christy I follow each installation touring the country with great attachment. I have been humbled by the respect and sacredness given to each assembly. Humbled by the serious care taken by the communities and volunteers as they memorialized the women with sacred ceremony. The vamps were said to represent unfinished lives. Before this installation the individuals that were missing were disconnected and isolated in their own lost worlds. Christy called them together that they would be known and remembered. That the families would be comforted and supported, that the public would be informed and engaged in the most sacred of ways. Those with, and those without names and personal identities, stood together in the sacred places, united in a sacred sisterhood of flesh and spirit. With every installation I would scan the pictures and videos in the hope of seeing my vamps. Seeing my girl. With each installation I'd feel a deeper yearning and attachment. I'd become protective of the woman whose story found its place with my simple vamps. I can never truly know the depth of pain and suffering, felt day in and day out by immediate family still searching for a missing a loved one. This experience has none the less allowed me to feel a quiver of the loss. The sadness of not knowing while imagining the worst. It has made me a better intercessor. It has seeded greater empathy. It has powered stamina to keep pushing for just resolutions.

[@louiseprofeit-leblanc9017]

Thanks so much for posting this wonderful interview, speaking of the genesis of the Walking with our Sister memorial. Lets hope that all people of the world are influenced by this flowing out of love for the women of our country. May this gentle way of honouring through ceremony bring healing to all the families of their loved ones. Mussi Cho!

[@lewisalexander2488]

Thank you! I went through the video twice and then got to yell out "there they are!!" You did good, girl. I'm proud of you for all that work, careful thought and perservence.

[@killerbuster]

cool