A Metis artist installed her red-string Hope and Healing Canada art at Pickering Museum Village for a three month residency Saturday.

Tracey-Mae Chambers, a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, created her work, entitled #HopeAndHealingCanada, at the Puterbaugh Schoolhouse at Pickering Museum Village, Puterbaugh Schoolhouse on Saturday, October 8 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The artists engaged with patrons during the installation.

“Since July 2021, I have been building site-specific art installations across Ontario, at residential school historical sites, cultural centres, museums, art galleries and other public spaces. Many (but not all) of these public spaces serve to present a colonial viewpoint and primarily speak about the settlers who arrived and lived here, but not the Indigenous people that were displaced along the way.”

The installations are constructed with red acrylic yarn, which is strong and resilient. The string represents the connectivity between each other and the environment, as a symbol that neither will last forever.

“Red is the colour of blood. Red is the slur against Indigenous people. Red is the colour of passion and anger, danger and power, courage and love,” Chambers added. “The goal of #HopeAndHealingCanada is to broach the subject of decolonization and reconciliation. These discussions are hard to start and harder still to maintain.  I am hoping to bridge the gap between settlers and Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit people by creating art that is approachable and non-confrontational, so we can start.”

For more information on the City of Pickering’s public art program, please visit: pickering.ca/PublicArt