The Nurse Collects Evidence from my Already Traumatized Body

24" x 18" original acrylic painting on gallery-wrapped 1.5" depth cotton canvas, with hanging hardware installed. Sealed and protected with Liquitex Professional Gloss Varnish.

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The "Nurse Collects Evidence from my Already Traumatized Body" was created as part of "The Return to Equilibrium" painting series developed for an undergraduate course in preparation for year-end BFA grad show. This piece was reworked each week during the months of October and November in 2019 in response to classmate and instructor feedback.

The Return to Equilibrium explores themes of colonization, loss, and resilience—the complexities of historic and contemporary Indigenous experiences. Each painting is a connection made to the stories and memories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The progress of each painting expresses the journey from imposed dangerous situations to a place of healing experienced by survivors and their families. The audio that accompanied the piece in the exhibition begins instrumentally with ‘Ten Little Indians'—a colonial song which narrates the systematic killing of Indigenous children—and builds up to the empowering Indigenous 'Women's Warrior Song’, only to be repeated yet again. This repetition reflects the ongoing struggles that Indigenous peoples continue to face and overcome in the effort to have their voices heard in search for equilibrium.

The police and criminal justice system has failed Indigenous Peoples’ by socially and economically marginalizing us, ignoring agency, expertise and expressed concerns; not acknowledging historical, multi-generational and intergenerational trauma; denying and violating their access to Indigenous and human rights — the right to culture, the right to health, the right to security, and the right to justice — and viewing us through a racist and sexist lens. As a Canadian Indigenous artist, I cannot stand in silence any longer. Through my paintings, I will show my audience who the people are beyond the racism inflicted upon us, beyond the oppression preventing us from getting ahead in life, and beyond the violence inflicted upon us.