This spring, SKETCH and Neighbourhood Arts Network launched the next wave of Courage Labs as part of an ongoing series of workshops and gatherings centred around arts and equity through an Indigenous lens. Starting with “Cultivating Self Care & Compassion through an Indigenous Lens,” Mahlikah Awe:ri and Gein Wong provided new and returning participants with what they define as a “groundation” and “overstanding” of the complexities of “re|conciliation” and “decolonization.” We invited them to share their reflections on the experience and what took place.
Facilitators Gein Wong and Mahlikah Awe:ri (centre, with mics) leading the April session
“We began with a series of collaborative activities (quotes, three waves of the Colonization Blanket, and the Colonial Continuum). With integrated moments of self-reflection and sharing circle analysis, we transitioned from static definitions outside of our own personal reality and accountability; walked a mile in the moccasins of Indigenous folks; analyzed the impact that multiple waves of colonization across generations have had, and the legacy they continue to perpetuate in the forms of land corporatization; and viewed cultural appropriation and re|conciliation as the new form of assimilation.
Heavy, huh?
Well colonization is a massive weight…burdens carried in the form of oppression, poverty, marginalization, displacement and all kinds of stigmas. How do we begin to unpack? How do we begin to own the ancestral legacy of the colonizer or colonized, both within our own bloodlines? How do we re-envision re|conciliation–acts of reclamation and re-emergence–with Indigeneity at the centre? And finally, how have I benefited from or not benefited from being on occupied, stolen land?
These questions flowed from activity to activity and discussion to discussion throughout the three-hour session. Our circle closed with providing folks with a sense of direction towards honouring an artistic path of decolonizing self with compassion and gratitude. As well, we stressed the importance of centring Indigeneity in participants’ artistic practice by making sure that Indigenous people, and particularly Two-Spirited folks, are in positions of significant leadership and influence.”
“I’m sorry is not enough!”
Mahlikah and Gein’s work set the stage for our next Courage Lab workshop that took place last week with two-spirit elder Ma-Nee Chacaby and choral educator and composer Hussein Janmohamed who led the group through an exploration that built on these themes and addressed “Right Relations with Elders” through storytelling, visual art and song.
Scenes from May’s Courage Lab “Right Relations with Elders”
Join us at the next Courage Lab this month (dates to be announced) where we will continue to delve deeper into these themes while letting the arts and new guest facilitators be our guides. In the same way that this work is constantly shifting with the wisdom, curiosity and collaborative creativity, this inquiry can never truly stop as we grow in our understanding and embodied awareness of this important work.
Ona.
-By Mahlikah Awe:ri, Gein Wong, and Ella Cooper
Photo credits: Parul Pandya