Public art installation in Owen Sound about hope, healing and more – Owen Sound Sun Times

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When Metis artist Tracey-May Chambers began her #hopeandhealingcanada installations earlier this year, her main goal was about reconnecting as Canada and Ontario began to reopen from the pandemic.

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Since then her installations have remained symbols of connectivity, but have also become about creating a dialogue about the difficult subjects of past and present racial discrimination against Indigenous people.

“I sort of lost direction and I wasn’t sure which direction to go after COVID because it was such a weird time for creating. I am a sculptor most of the time but would prefer to do installations because I like to be outside,” the Hamilton artists said Saturday outside the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound where she was installing her latest work. “I was just trying to figure out how to illustrate connection in a tangible way and this is what I came up with.”

But as her works evolved and became more intricate and more complicated, the discussion around the installations also became much more complex, particularly after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of children at former residential schools in the spring and early summer.

“It became something else entirely and questioning whether there was actually any connection between First Nations communities – being Indigenous, Metis and Inuit — or have we always been completely separate,” said Chambers. “I began talking to people about it, which is great. No one knows what to do. No one knows how to move forward from this.”

While the project is about hope and healing Canada, Chambers said the installations have given her the opportunity to specifically talk about the decolonization of Indigenous people with those who may not otherwise have that discussion.

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“Most settlers don’t talk about decolonization because it has always been their life, so they don’t see it. They feel things don’t need to change because everything is OK to them, but clearly it is not,” said Chambers. “Being in the space is an act of decolonization and literally that is what it comes down to for me.”

Chambers installs her works, both indoors and outdoors, sometimes lasting a day and other times up to six months. The installation just west of the Tom Thomson gallery along 2^nd Avenue West is to be in place until Oct. 1, and taken down following the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.

The red yarn that Chambers has used in her pieces, “representing danger and power, but also courage and love,” will be reused again and again as she travels the country constructing the installation. She has plans to do 69 of the works in total.

“It will be used somewhere else across Canada and it will look totally different from this, and that is an act of decolonization because capitalism is a part of colonization,” Chambers said. “Really most people would throw it away and get a new one because it is easier. It made me realize reusing this is an act of decolonization by saying no to capitalism and saying no to that throw-away society, which is not an Indigenous world view.”

Chambers said that while she is sparking some conversations about difficult subjects, much more has to be done.

“I still see this sort of backlash against something like Every Child Matters. How could I feel it is getting anywhere if that organization isn’t getting anywhere,” Chambers said. “But at least I am getting these tiny conversations that are part of a bigger conversation, and that is the best that I can do.

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“The hope is there that the conversations will be there. It is just that some days are harder than others.”

Tom Thomson Art Gallery Curator of Public Projects and Education Heather McLeese said they are doing what they can to break down all barriers, both real and perceived, at the local gallery.

“Public art is a big focus for us, and projects that are talking about decolonization and truth and reconciliation, are not easy conversations at all, but they are necessary,” said McLeese. “That is what we should be doing here at the gallery and the city has been extremely supportive of this whole project.”

More details about Chambers’ installations can be found at https://www.traceymae.com/hopeandhealingcanada.html