This project was about Mr. Louis Riel. Louis Riel was a Métis (half French/English and half First Nations) revolutionary. Louis lived in Manitoba, specifically, the Red River settlement. This was a settlement that was made up of Métis, predominantly French Métis. Louis led rebellions and many battles. Louis was also a creator of the Provisional Government.

Our main task for this project was to create three images that would represent a historically significant incident of our choosing. These pictures would make a statement about this incident through drawings, quotes, animations, etc. When it came to pick the event, my partner and I decided to choose James Cook and his relationship with the native Hawaiians known as the Kanakas.

For my reflection section of this post, I will be going over the more important milestones that we completed during this project.

We also had to complete an ethical dimensions worksheet. This was where we took our research and answered questions like “where did it happen”, and “what differences exist between our ethical universe and theirs in relation to the issues involved in the conflict?”. This sheet was important because COME BACK 

The ethical worksheet tied directly into our second competency, which was “understanding ethical dimensions”. Understanding ethical dimensions had been a big focus of this project. While researching our historical events, we’d also been learning about the trans-mountain pipeline events happing now. So, understanding two different events in two different timelines, really opened my eyes. I’ve realized that we’ve become more civil as humans among the decades and that if riots like the ones here happened hundreds of years ago, the outcome would’ve been completely different. Say that a riot broke out 100 years ago. That riot might’ve ended in severe casualties. Fights could break out and it would a lot worse compared to controlled rioting today. 

The second important milestone was milestone #3. This was about showing our first set of draft images. This milestone was important because the pictures we’d chosen were very blank and dull to start with. With the annotations however, they were bumped up to another level where you could understand more details within the story rather than just seeing people themselves.

The third milestone, to me, touched on the “connect” competency. The “connect” competency is about understanding how my art, photos, text and view compared to others. In terms of how I portrayed that competency, I believe that when Julia and I did the our take on different photos, it was interesting to see what she did compared to me. I decided to go with a detailed and highly annotated version for my final picture. Julia however went with a more simplistic version of hers. However, in both photos I could understand the story behind the photos. Julia’s photo was more big picture, and was very focused on the end result. She drew a boat sailing away from the Hawaiian islands. This was accompanied by the British flag and money symbols. My picture was sympathetically focused. It shows a sun which symbolizes bad working conditions. There is a pick and a shovel which symbolizes hard labour, and there is a slashed out money sign to symbolize unfair payments.

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(JULIA’S)^

(MINE)^

In the end, this project opened my eyes. Not only did I learn about historical Canadian events I’ve never known about, I’ve also got a way better understanding of ethical dimensions. With all the examples that my classmates brought up, this was one of the most intriguing projects I’ve done. 

Thanks for reading,

Please Visit my partner:

Julia